Floods kill 23 Afghans, NATO soldier

FAIZABAD, Afghanistan, May 4 (Reuters)

• Floods triggered by heavy rain killed 23 Afghans and a NATO soldier, and destroyed scores of houses in Afghanistan's northeastern province of Badakhshan, officials said on Friday.

Authorities were searching for some missing people after the flooding, which hit on Thursday night in an area of the impoverished and mountainous province near the border with Tajikistan, China and Pakistan, the provincial governor said.

"The people are in a very bad state," Munshi Abdul Majid said.

A soldier with the NATO-led forces died in another area of the province when his car was washed away by the floods, an Afghan aid worker said in Faizabad, the provincial capital of Badakhshan.

Earlier, NATO said one of its soldiers had died in a non-combat incident in the north, but gave no details.

After years of harsh drought, Afghanistan received much more snow and rain this year.