Kabul, February 22: A Georgian soldier with NATO forces has been killed in a blast in southern Afghanistan, bringing the number of US-led forces killed in the war-torn country to almost 55 in 2011.
The soldier lost his life in the troubled Helmand region when a mine exploded, said the Georgian Defense Ministry in the ex-Soviet republic in a statement on Tuesday, media reported.
Two other Georgian troops were also injured in the blast, the ministry statement added.
Corporal Giorgi Avaliani was the sixth Georgian to be killed while serving in Afghanistan, the ministry said.
The small country of nearly 4.4 million people is a significant contributor to US-led NATO forces in the war-ravaged country.
Last year was the deadliest of the nearly decade-long war for US-led troops in the Asian country, with more than 700 foreign soldiers killed, compared to just more than 500 in 2009.
Official figures indicate that at least 2,330 NATO soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
—-Agencies