NATO: 5 More Troops Killed in Afghanistan Attacks

Five NATO troops were killed in a spate of attacks in Afghanistan on Thursday, including four in roadside bombings, bringing the total over the past two days to 11, officials said.

It has been the deadliest year for international forces in the nine-year Afghan conflict. Troop numbers have been ramped up to turn the screws on insurgents and casualties have mounted. The escalating toll has shaken the commitment of many NATO countries, with calls growing to start drawing down troops quickly.

A homemade bomb in western Afghanistan killed three service members Thursday, an alliance statement said. American, Italian, Spanish and Lithuanian forces are deployed in the country's west. NATO later announced another service member died in a militant attack in the east, and one more was killed in a roadside blast in the south.

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It didn't provide nationalities or give the specific locations of the incidents.

In a bloody day for NATO troops in Afghanistan on Wednesday, insurgents killed six troops, including four who died in a single bomb blast in the country's volatile south.

At least 39 NATO service members have been killed so far this month, and more than 2,000 have died since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. Roadside bombs have become the weapon of choice for militants in countering ramped up NATO-Afghan operations.

NATO said Thursday two insurgent leaders were killed in a raid in eastern Ghazni province. Afghan and NATO forces took heavy small-arms and rocket-propelled grenade fire as they moved in on a compound in Rashidan district Wednesday, an alliance statement said.

Troops returned fire, killing Mohammad Ali and Mowlana Fatih Sahib, described by NATO as senior Taliban leaders. Several other insurgents were killed, it said.

The Taliban have accused NATO of inventing Taliban leaders and alleging they were killed or captured in a propaganda campaign to demoralize the insurgents.