British Soldier 3 Afghan Police Killed by Blasts

Kabul, Afghanistan - Three Afghan policemen and one British soldier slain by roadside bomb attacks in the volatile south and east of Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday.
Attacks by insurgents are surging in many parts of the country and NATO, strengthened this year by about 30,000 more U.S. troops, a crucial push to the decks to safety by the Taliban-dominated areas in the south after nearly nine years of war.
The British soldier on patrol in Helmand in the south of the province when a roadside blast wounded him in the Nahr-i-Sarai district, the UK Ministry of Defence said in a statement Tuesday. It did not identify him.
The soldier, from 1st Battalion of the Regiment of Mercia, was evacuated to Britain after explosion on Sunday, but died Monday in a hospital.
At least 15 international troops in Afghanistan have been slain so far in July. Last month was the deadliest of the war for the NATO force trying to stabilize the country since the Taliban hard-line Islamic regime was toppled by U.S. backed forces in 2001.
Under an agreement by the Associated Press, international 103 service members, including 60 Americans, died in June.
In the east of Afghanistan, three Afghan police Tuesday afternoon when their deceased joint convoy of international troops to patrol in Logar Province and a car hit a mine buried in the Baraki Barak district, local government chief Mohammad Amin Rahim said.
Another police vehicle was hit by half to help me, wounded four Afghans, Amin said, adding that a U.S. helicopter flew to the scene and was hovering over the wreck before sunset.
Logar, the province just south of the capital Kabul, hosts a large U.S. base and is a hive of activity for the Haqqani network of insurgents allied with al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Attacks by insurgents have increased across the country in recent years, prompted the U.S. to send more troops and a security operation in the southern province of Kandahar, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban.
Senator John McCain, ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Monday the Kandahar push is crucial to whether NATO and Afghan forces to prevail in the war.
McCain, who visited the largest city in southern Afghanistan on Monday with two other U.S. lawmakers, warned of heavy fighting ahead and predicted that casualties would rise in the short term.