7 U.S. soldiers die in Afghan attacks

KABUL, Afghanistan — Ten NATO troops, including seven U.S. soldiers, were killed in Afghanistan on Monday in the deadliest day for coalition forces this year.

In addition, two Australian soldiers were killed by an improvised explosive device in southern Afghanistan, acting Australian Defense Force Chief Lt. Gen. David Hurley said Tuesday.

Five of the U.S. service members were killed in a roadside bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan, according to U.S. military officials. Two other U.S. soldiers died in the country's volatile south, one in a bombing and the other by small-arms fire.

According to the icasualties.org website, which keeps track of U.S. and NATO troop deaths in Afghanistan, 245 international coalition troops have been killed in the country this year, 153 of them American.

Also on Monday, an American contractor was killed in a suicide-bomb attack on a police-training center in Kandahar, where U.S. troops are planning a major offensive this summer to uproot Taliban insurgents from their stronghold.

The NATO deaths were a grim reminder that insurgents can strike throughout the country — not simply in the south, which has become the main focus of the U.S. campaign.

It was the deadliest day for NATO since Oct. 26, when 11 U.S. troops were killed, including seven who died in a helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan. The crash was not believed a result of hostile fire.

U.S. commanders have warned of more casualties as the alliance gears up for a major operation to secure Kandahar, the former headquarters of the Taliban and the biggest city in the south with a half million people.

In December, President Obama ordered 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan to try to stem the rise of the Taliban, who have bounced back since they were ousted from power in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

As fighting escalates, the Afghan government is reaching out to the insurgents in hopes of ending the nearly nine-year war.

Last week, President Hamid Karzai won endorsement from a national conference, or peace jirga, for his plan to offer economic and other incentives to the insurgents to lay down their arms and seek talks with the Taliban leadership. So far, the leadership has publicly shunned the offer, and the United States is skeptical whether peace can succeed until the Taliban are weakened on the battlefield.

The Taliban have branded Karzai a U.S. puppet and say there will be no talks while foreign troops are in Afghanistan.

Karzai's decision Sunday to replace two of the country's top security officials fueled speculation about divisions within the Afghan leadership over reaching out to the Taliban.

The government said the two officials were replaced because of an armed attack on the peace jirga, which caused no casualties among the delegates but proved embarrassing to the Karzai administration.

Both officials had a long background of opposition to the Taliban.

Intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh was a senior figure in the Northern Alliance, which helped the United States oust the Taliban regime in 2001.

Interior Minister Hanif Atmar served in Afghanistan's Communist-era intelligence agency and fought mujahedeen opposed to the Soviet occupation.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.