Six international soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, Nato officials said, making Monday the deadliest day for foreign troops there in two months.
The dead include three Americans killed in southern Afghanistan and one French soldier north-east of Kabul, Nato said. The nationalities of the other two have not yet been released. The deaths came as a poll commissioned by the BBC and others showed most Afghans are increasingly upbeat about the state of their country.
Of more than 1,500 Afghans questioned, 70% said they believed Afghanistan was going in the right direction - a big jump from 40% a year ago.
Deadly patrols
The Americans died in a clash with militants during an "operational patrol" in southern Afghanistan, US military spokesman Col Wayne Shanks said. France has said one of its soldiers was killed and another wounded while patrolling with Afghan troops in Alasay, a valley largely under militant control. More On BBC
