Avalanche kills 10 in Afghanistan

An avalanche in northern Afghanistan cascaded over a line of vehicles on a mountain pass killing 10 people, while a NATO soldier died in a clash with insurgents in the south.

An avalanche in northern Afghanistan cascaded over a line of vehicles on a mountain pass killing 10 people, while a NATO soldier died in a clash with insurgents in the south, officials said Sunday.

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The avalanche smothered three vehicles as they traveled up the Salang Pass on Friday, said Khalilullah Ziai, a police official. Authorities recovered all the bodies.

The Salang tunnel is a high mountain passage that connects Kabul with the country's northern provinces. The area sees avalanches every winter.

In the southern province of Helmand, meanwhile, a British soldier was killed in a clash with insurgents Saturday, Britain's Ministry of Defense said. The soldier was killed during a foot patrol. Southern Afghanistan is the center of the Taliban-led insurgency, and the world's largest drug producing area. The Taliban have made a comeback after their initial defeat during the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

The U.S. plans to send some 20,000 new American forces into southern Afghanistan to help British, Canadian and Dutch soldiers battle the militants there.