A NATO soldier was killed in an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, the coalition troops said. "An International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) service member died following an insurgent attack in eastern Afghanistan today," the NATO-led coalition or ISAF said in a statement.

The brief statement disclosed neither the nationality of the victim nor the exact place of the incident under the ISAF policy, only saying"It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities."

Taliban insurgents, who have been waging more than a decade- long insurgency, announced that they would launch a spring offensive starting from May 3 to target Afghan forces as well as U.S. and NATO troops across the country.

Fifty countries are contributing 130,000-strong forces in Afghanistan with over 90,000 of them Americans mainly stationed in the east and south, followed by 9,500 from UK mainly based in southern Afghanistan.

A total of 200 foreign soldiers, with majority of them Americans, have been killed in Afghanistan so far in 2012. (Xinhua)