A roadside bomb killed five foreign troops in volatile southern Afghanistan today Nato said.
The attack came less than a week after the coalition suffered its worst single loss in 10 years of war when Taliban insurgents shot down a helicopter.
The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) gave no other details regarding today's incident or the nationality of the troops killed. At least 50 foreign troops have been killed so far in August.
Violence is at its worst in Afghanistan since US-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban government in late 2001, with high levels of foreign troop deaths and record civilian casualties during the first six months of 2011.
The spike in casualties - almost 390 foreign troops have been killed so far this year - comes at a time of growing unease about the increasingly unpopular and costly war.
Last month foreign troops began the first phase of a gradual process to hand security responsibility over to Afghan soldiers and police. That process is due to end with the last foreign combat troops leaving at the end of 2014, but some US politicians are questioning whether that timetable is fast enough.
A Chinook troop-carrying helicopter crashed five days ago in central Afghanistan after it was likely hit by a rocket fired by the Taliban, killing 30 US troops, seven Afghan troops and one Afghan civilian interpreter.
ISAF said yesterday it had killed the Taliban militants responsible for shooting down the helicopter.
Reuters