NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen wrote  letters of condolences to President Saakashvili and to Prime Minister Ivanishvili over death of seven Georgian soldiers, killed in a truck bomb attack on their base in the southern Afghan province of Helmand on June 6, a NATO official said.

"In his letters, the Secretary General expressed his deepest condolences to the Georgian nation and to the families of those lost and wounded. The Secretary General said that all Allies recognize Georgia's dedication to the mission. He said that such incidents, as terrible as they are, will not divert us from the goals we have set, which is to put the Afghans fully in charge of security for their country and ensure it cannot be a safe haven for international terrorism," the NATO official said.

The NATO Deputy Secretary General Alexander Vershbow also called the Georgian Defense Minister Irakli Alasania and expressed his deepest condolences.