A roadside bomb blast in eastern Afghanistan killed four American soldiers Monday, while two NATO soldiers elsewhere died and a battle in the country's poppy-growing heartland killed more than 50 suspected militants, officials said, according to AP. The bomb blast came against U.S. soldiers conducting a combat patrol in the eastern province of Paktika, Gov. Mohammad Ekram Akhpelwak said. Norway said one if its soldiers was killed in Logar province, and NATO said a sixth soldier was killed in the south, though the soldier's nationality was not made public. The six deaths bring to 114 the number of Western soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year, including 54 Americans, according to an Associated Press count. In Helmand province, the U.S.-led coalition and Afghan soldiers «routed» a large number of Taliban fighters in a two-day battle, killing more than 50 suspected militants, the coalition said. The battle in Sangin district saw the insurgents attempt to shoot down a coalition aircraft and attack soldiers with a suicide car bomb, the coalition said in a statement. Coalition aircraft dropped four bombs during the engagement, and Afghan forces counted «more than four dozen» insurgents killed, it said.
