Afghanistan blast injures four Nato troops

A roadside blast struck a Nato convoy in southern Afghanistan, wounding four alliance soldiers today.

Fighting in three separate regions of the country left more than 100 militants dead, officials said.

The Nato convoy was attacked west of Kandahar city, and the four wounded soldiers were medically evacuated to a nearby military hospital, said Major John Thomas, a Nato spokesman.

Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a purported Taliban spokesman, said that the convoy was struck by a suicide bomber.

Those wounded were reportedly Canadian soldiers.

The attack happened a day after fierce fighting in three separate regions of Afghanistan killed more than 100 militants, part of a cycle of rapidly rising violence five years into the US-led effort to defeat the Taliban.

The governor of northeastern Kunar province said villagers were claiming that yesterday's airstrikes had killed dozens of civilians, though he said he could not confirm the report.

The fighting - in the south, west and northeast - continues a trend of sharply rising bloodshed over the last five weeks, among the deadliest periods since the 2001 US-led invasion.