KABUL: Three foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan -- two in a bombing in the south, and another soldier in an insurgent attack in the country`s north, NATO said Sunday.

NATO`s International Security Assistance Force said in separate statements that all three died on Saturday, but gave no further details of the incidents.

Improvised bombs are the Taliban`s main weapon against around 150,000 NATO and US troops in the country, fighting to quell the nine-year insurgency.

The latest deaths raise Saturday`s toll of foreign soldiers killed to five as Afghanistan held parliamentary elections throughout the war-wracked country.

The deaths bring to 515 the number of foreign troops killed in the Afghan war this year, according to an AFP count based on the icasualties.org tally.

The toll has almost hit the record annual figure of 521 in 2009, since the insurgents were overthrown in a US-led invasion in 2001.

BDST: 1048 HRS, September 19, 2010