Three NATO troops killed

TWO NATO service members were killed by bombings in southern Afghanistan yesterday while an insurgent attack killed another in the east, raising the coalition’s death toll to 10 in the first four days of October.

It has been the deadliest year for international troops in the nine-year Afghan conflict, and the escalating toll has shaken the commitment of many NATO countries with rising calls to start drawing down troops quickly.

NATO did not specify where yesterday’s bombings and attack occurred, and did not give the service members’ nationalities.

It also announced a joint Afghan-coalition unit launched a night mission that killed a senior Taliban leader named Farman and two other militants in eastern Paktia province.