Five US soldiers killed in Afghanistan: NATO

Insurgents killed another five U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's southern Taliban stronghold, NATO said Friday as a drone aircraft killed 12 militants in a missile strike in Pakistan.

Two soldiers were killed outright and three later died of their injuries in a trio of separate incidents on Thursday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Friday.

"Two members were killed and one died from wounds as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED) detonation," ISAF said, referring to the remote-controlled bombs that have become the scourge of troops in Afghanistan.

"One service member died of gunshot wounds from an insurgent attack and one service member died of wounds sustained in an insurgent attack while on patrol," the statement added.

The war in Afghanistan has become increasingly deadly in recent months as the Taliban stepped up the use of IEDs, to devastating effect.

Military leaders say they are trying to develop new ways to deal with the IED threat, but that the Taliban change their own tactics just as quickly.

The Pentagon said Wednesday that the senior U.S. commander in Afghanistan will submit a request for more troops this week but Washington will not decide on the issue until it completes a review of war strategy.

Two members were killed and one died from wounds as a result of an improvised explosive device detonation

International Security Assistance Force

Strike in Pakistan

Meanwhile, a U.S. drone aircraft killed 12 Afghan militants in a missile strike in Pakistan near the house of an Afghan Taliban commander allied to al-Qaeda, intelligence officials and residents said on Friday.

Four missiles hit a house shortly before midnight on Thursday in a North Waziristan, about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Afghan border.

Pakistani security officials initially said three people had been killed but an intelligence agency official said on Friday 12 Afghan militants were killed.

"All those killed were Afghans; men who had come from Logar," a villager said referring to an Afghan province south of the capital, Kabul.

Frustrated by an intensifying Afghan insurgency getting support from bases in lawless northwestern Pakistani border enclaves, the United States stepped up its attacks with pilotless drones last year.

There have been about 57 such strikes since the beginning of 2008 in which about 500 people have been killed, many of them militants, according to a tally of reports from Pakistani security agents and residents.

The former owner of the house stuck in the Thursday night attack year was a relative of Jalaluddin Haqqani, a veteran Afghan militant commander who is also a senior Taliban leader, and who lives near by, a Pakistani security official said.

The owner of the house was killed in Afghanistan last year, he said.

Haqqani, who was in the past known to be close to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is said to be sick and his group is now led by his son, Sirajuddin.

The so-called Haqqani Network is one of the main Taliban factions battling U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan. U.S. drones have carried out several missile strikes in the area in recent months.

All those killed were Afghans; men who had come from Logar

A villager