First US-led soldier killed in 2012

A US-led soldier has been killed in a bomb explosion in southern Afghanistan, marking the first NATO casualty in the war-torn country in 2012, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) announces. The trooper lost his life “following an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in southern Afghanistan, yesterday," the ISAF said in a statement on Tuesday. NATO did not reveal the exact location of the incident or the nationality of the victim, saying, "It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities." A total of 566 US-led troops, most of them Americans, were killed in Afghanistan in 2011. On Sunday, the Taliban militants attacked the largest American military base in Afghanistan on the first day of 2012 despite US efforts to negotiate with the militant group. Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said that fatalities had been caused after the militants hit the US Bagram Air Base north of the Afghan capital, Kabul, with ninemissiles. Afghan officials also announced that the heavily-fortified airbase had been hit by a barrage of rockets, but said that the attack did not cause any casualties. The militant group has recently intensified attacks against US-led foreign forces in the war-torn country despite Washington's efforts to give concessions to the Taliban and begin talks with them. The US has reportedly demanded Qatar to provide the militants with an office where Washington can embark on negotiations with the militants planned for early 2012.