A NATO soldier was killed escorting a convoy in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, while four Afghan security guards died in a suicide attack. NATO did not disclose the soldier's nationality or the exact location of the incident. A Taliban insurgency is raging in Afghanistan's south and attacks on supply convoys are near-daily occurrences. Meanwhile, a suicide bomber blew himself up next to members of a private security company providing protection for a road construction company Saturday in southern Helmand province's Lashkar Gah district. Four guards were killed and three others wounded, said provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein. Violence has risen sharply during the last two months in Afghanistan. This year more than 3,700 people _ most of them militants _ have died, according to an Associated Press tally of casualty figures provided by Western and Afghan officials.
