Insurgents kill U.S. service member in eastern Afghanistan

USPA News - An American service member was killed Monday when insurgents attacked foreign troops in eastern Afghanistan, less than a week after a deadly helicopter crash, U.S. officials said. It raises the number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 34. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said one of its service members was killed as a result of an "enemy forces attack" in Afghanistan`s eastern region, which is home to the country`s capital.

But because the multinational force defers the release of specific details to national authorities, no other details about the incident were available, including the exact location. ISAF also refused to disclose the nationality of the service member who died in the attack, but a defense official at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. confirmed the casualty was an American service member. "The only information I`ve got is that the service member died as a result of an enemy forces attack in eastern Afghanistan today," the official said. Both the U.S. official and ISAF declined to provide details about the nature of Monday`s attack. It was also not known whether other service members were injured in the attack, which comes less than a week after a 21-year-old soldier from Colorado died in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan. Monday`s death raises the number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 34, according to official figures. A total of 160 ISAF troops were killed in Afghanistan in 2013, down from 402 fatalities in 2012 and 566 in 2011. A majority of the fallen troops were American and were killed in the country`s south, which is plagued by IED attacks on troops and civilians. There are currently more than 50,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, including some 32,800 U.S. troops and 5,200 British service members. Most foreign troops are scheduled to leave the war-torn country by the end of the year, but a security deal expected to be signed by Afghanistan`s next president will likely keep American troops in the country until the end of 2016.