Four US and one French soldier killed in Afghanistan

Attacks by militants in Afghanistan have left four US and one French soldier dead, with the US death toll for 2010 now 14, BBC reported.

Nato said that one American had died in fighting in the east while another succumbed to wounds suffered in a roadside bombing in the south.

Little information was given about a bomb which killed two more US soldiers.

A roadside bomb attack to the north-east of the capital, Kabul, killed one French soldier.

Six international soldiers were killed in Afghanistan as a result of attacks on Monday, the deadliest day for foreign troops there in two months.

They were identified as three Americans, a Briton and two French soldiers. One of the French soldiers was mortally wounded, and died on Tuesday.

'France undeterred'

At least 100,000 foreign military personnel are deployed in Afghanistan under Nato and US command.

Of these, at least 74,000 are American and 3,300 are French.

The French soldier killed on Wednesday had been travelling in a convoy in the Mahmud Raqi region, between the Nijrab and Bagram military bases, the French presidency said.

Two other French soldiers were wounded in the same attack.

President Nicolas Sarkozy offered his condolences to the dead soldier's family, adding: "Today's attack does not dampen France's desire to pursue its mission in Afghanistan."

A count by the French news agency AFP puts the total number of French soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the war began in 2001 at 39.