US Soldier Deaths in Afghanistan Top 300 This Year

[tekisui]

Source: AFP

KABUL — A bomb killed another US soldier in Afghanistan, bringing to more than 300 the number of American troops killed in the war this year as NATO-led troops pressed deadly raids, officials said Sunday.

An improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in eastern Afghanistan, killing the soldier serving in the NATO-run International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on Saturday, said the military.

Eastern and southern Afghanistan are the deadliest battlefields for 113,000 US and NATO troops fighting against a Taliban insurgency, now inflicting record fatalities since US-led troops overthrew the Taliban government in 2001.

The latest death pushed to 301 the number of American soldiers killed in Afghanistan so far this year, according to the icasualties.org website.

The number is nearly twice the 155 American soldiers killed in 2008 when total foreign troop deaths numbered 295 for the entire year.

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