KABUL, Afghanistan – Two U.S. service members drowned after their Humvee slid into a river during an operation targeting insurgents in eastern Afghanistan (search), the American military said Friday.
The deaths occurred Thursday, the same day another American soldier was killed by a roadside bomb near the Pakistan (search) border.
Two other service members escaped from the vehicle before it fell into the Kunar River (search) east of Jalalabad, a military statement said. One American was treated by U.S. military personnel at the scene, and the other was transported to the main American military base at Bagram, north of the capital, Kabul, where he was reported to be in good condition.
The Humvee was part of a larger convoy conducting operations against insurgents in the region, and the river was swollen due to melting snow from nearby mountain peaks and recent rainfall, the statement said.
The military gave no further details.
More than 17,000 U.S. soldiers are in Afghanistan, hunting Taliban and Al Qaeda militants still active in the south and east of the country.
At least 174 U.S. troops have been killed in and around Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom began in 2001.
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