Three US soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Three US soldiers are killed in an ambush in Afghanistan's Kapisa province north of Kabul, taking number of the coalition forces killed in 2009 to 126.

"Three coalition service members were killed in an attack on their convoy in Kapisa province this morning when their convoy struck an improvised explosive device and came under small-arms fire," the US military said on Thursday.

The force's media office told AFP that the three were from the United States.

No militant group has as yet claimed responsibility for the attack in area where extremist Hezb-e-Islami faction led by former prime minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar are active.

A separate bombing in the southern province of Kandahar on Wednesday evening killed five Afghan security forces, Press TV correspondent reported.

The explosion hit a police patrol in the city of Spin Buldak, near the Durand Line border with Pakistan, when a Taliban militant rammed his explosive-laden motorcycle into the vehicle.

Taliban-linked insurgency has risen in Afghanistan, particularly in the violent south where hundreds of NATO soldiers are stationed.

Recent attacks have raised stability concerns as the nation heads for key presidential and provincial elections scheduled for August 20, the second since the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

President Hamid Karzai came out as the winner in the previous lection in 2004 and is to step down when his five-year term ends in October 2009.

NATO standing between US-Russia ties: Putin

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says NATO military exercises in Georgia could impede attempts by Washington and Moscow to "reset" their strained relations.

In an interview ahead of a trip to Tokyo, Putin said that the NATO exercise was "a step backwards" and a "signal in the other direction" despite efforts to repair US-Russia relations, Reuters reported.

"We really hope that today's leaders of the United States will hit the pedal properly to put a brake on the negative trends in our ... ties and take the necessary steps to make sure they really gain new substance," Putin said.

Russia has questioned the timing of the exercises when tension in the Caucasus is on the rise.

Putin also criticized the NATO war games, saying they will prop up the pro-Western Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

President Saakashvili, who is detested by Moscow after igniting and fighting a war against Russia in August 2008, in recent weeks has faced major protests from the opposition who want him to resign.

The NATO exercise is the latest in a series of obstacles standing the way of better US-Russia relations. The two sides remain at odds over Washington's plans to deploy elements of an anti-missile shield in Eastern Europe.

The Kremlin views the move as a threat to its sovereignty, while the White House says the deployment is mere precaution against possible missile attack from 'rogue states'.

In March, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton handed a 'reset button' as a gift to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in move viewed a first step in betterment of relations between the Cold War-era rivals.

Following the move Moscow and Washington decided to reduce their nuclear warheads and work together on a number of issues.