Kabul  - A NATO soldier was killed by a roadside bomb explosion in southern Afghanistan Saturday, while the Afghan and international forces killed 47 suspected Taliban and an Afghan women in separate operations elsewhere in the country, the military said.

In the latest incident, the soldier, who was a member of the NATO- led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) died of wounds he had sustained during a roadside bomb blast in the southern region, ISAF said in a statement.

Kabul, Apr. 4 : Facing strong criticism from the international community over his sanction of a new law that allows men to rape their wives legally, Afghanistan''s President Hamid Karzai has said he would order a review of it and possibly send back to parliament if it was found that women''s rights are being violated.

According to the Daily Express, Karzai said he had ordered the Justice Ministry to review the law and if anything in it contravened the country''s constitution or sharia law "measures will be taken".

Kabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai defended Saturday a new family law for the country's Shiite minority, saying the concerns expressed by the international community over its anti-women's rights articles were based on poor translation or "misinterpretation."

The new law, which was recently passed by parliament and signed by Karzai, and is meant to legalize the Shiite family law, has sparked outcries among some Afghan women's rights activists and the international community.

Kabul - US-lead international troops and Afghan soldiers killed five Taliban fighters in the southern province of Helmand, a US military statement said Friday.

Four militants, among them a local Taliban commander believed to be responsible for a suicide attack and an attack on international forces, died in a raid on a compound while a fifth insurgent was killed when a group of militants attacked a coalition patrol, the statement said.

Meanwhile, a Romanian soldier was shot and killed late Thursday, the Romanian Defence Ministry said.

Kabul  - US-led coalition military sources Thursday reported that 20 suspected Taliban militants were killed in an airstrike on Wednesday.

The airstrike was prompted after the Taliban forces attacked Afghan and international troops in southern Afghanistan.

The latest death toll raised the total number of militants killed in the past three days in Afghanistan's southern region to 80.

Kabul - Four suicide bombers equipped with automatic rifles attacked a provincial council office in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing one policeman and seven civilians, an interior ministry spokesman said.

One attacker detonated his explosive-laden vehicle in front of the provincial council office in southern Kandahar city, capital of the Kandahar province, Wednesday morning. A policeman guarding the compound died, spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.