A service member of NATO was killed in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, a local media reported.

About 43 international service members have been killed in this month so far and about 194 alliance troops have died in Afghanistan this year.

The most volatile areas of the country are southern and eastern Afghanistan

The recent attacks with stepped-up roadside bomb and suicide attacks, as well as insurgent assaults on mountainous or rural outposts are a part of the Taliban spring offensive.

NATO will hand over the control of security to Afghan forces by 2014.

The success of the Taliban campaign could affect President Barack Obama's planned drawdown of U.S. troops in July.

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