Two U.S., Two British Soldiers Among 5 NATO Troops Killed in Afghan Blasts

Published November 17, 2014

Five NATO soldiers including two Britons and two Americans have died in Taliban-style bomb attacks in Afghanistan, NATO and British authorities said Saturday.

One British and one American soldier were killed in two attacks Saturday while the other troopers died a day earlier, NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Britain's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

Another NATO soldier was killed in a separate attack on Saturday, ISAF said, without giving the trooper's nationality.

ISAF said the four other deaths were the result of three separate attacks employing improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the single biggest killer in the nearly nine-year-old war.

The British casualties included a marine from 40 Commando Royal Marines, who died in an explosion in the volatile Sangin district of southern Helmand province Friday.

The second soldier, from The Royal Dragoon Guards, died in a blast in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand Saturday, the MoD said.

He was part of a patrol providing security to allow the construction of new roads and security bases, it said.

An airman from Britain's Royal Air Force Regiment who was serving as part of the Camp Bastion Force Protection Wing in Helmand died Friday in a traffic accident, British military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel James Carr-Smith said.

The American casualties occurred in the south and east of the country, an ISAF spokesman said.

U.S. troops have been involved in a major offensive in eastern Kunar province, partnering with Afghan forces to reportedly take on insurgents massed near the Pakistani border.

Little has been said officially about the progress of the operation, though ISAF has announced significant casualties from the region in recent weeks.

Casualty figures for international troops in Afghanistan have spiked in the past two months, with 102 in June, the highest monthly toll since the war began soon after a U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001.

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