Two More U.S. Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan Yesterday

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U.S. troop deaths take Afghan toll this year above 50

KABUL (Reuters) - A U.S. soldier and a U.S. Marine have been killed in militant attacks in Afghanistan, bringing American combat deaths in the country this year to 51, the bloodiest period for U.S. forces since the fall of the Taliban.

The casualties in Kandahar and Kunar provinces on Monday took U.S. deaths in Afghanistan in two days to seven. A Chinook military transport helicopter crashed on an anti-militant mission in Zabul province on Sunday, killing its crew of five.

A military statement on Tuesday said the soldier was killed after his unit came under rocket-grenade and small-arms fire west of the city of Kandahar, while the Marine died in a similar attack on a forward base near the eastern town of Asadabad.

An American soldier was in stable condition after being wounded in the first attack, in which two militants were killed and another wounded, the statement said. U.S. forces responded to the latter attack with mortars and aircraft, it said.