7 U.S. TROOPS, 2 AUSTRALIANS AND A FRENCH LEGIONNAIRE KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN BLOODBATH

KABUL, Afghanistan — Seven American troops, two Australians and a French Legionnaire were killed in the bloodiest day this year for international forces in Afghanistan. A U.S. contractor training Afghan police also died in a brazen suicide attack.

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The bloodshed Monday came as insurgents step up bombings and other attacks ahead of a major NATO operation in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar that Washington hopes will turn the tide of the nearly nine-year-old war.

Half the NATO deaths - five Americans - occurred in a single blast in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. spokesman Col. Wayne Shanks said without giving further details. It was a grim reminder the insurgents can strike throughout the country - not simply in the south, which has become the main focus of the U.S. campaign.

Two other U.S. troops were killed in separate attacks in the south - one in a bombing and the other by small arms fire.

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