Blast kills one NATO soldier in Afghanistan

A soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) lost his life in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast in Afghanistan on Monday, a press release of the alliance said. "An International Security Assistance Force service member died following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan today," the press release admitted. However, it did not identify the nationality of the victim and the exact place of the incident, saying it is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities. This is the third NATO soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan over the past two days. Two more NATO soldiers had lost their lives in the eastern and southern Afghanistan on Sunday in insurgents'related activities, the alliance confirmed in separate statements. So far this year, 493 NATO soldiers with 371 of them Americans have been killed in Afghanistan, according to iCasualties, a website tracking U.S. and NATO-led forces casualties in the war on terror in Afghanistan.