Insurgents kill NATO soldier in eastern Afghanistan

USPA News - Insurgents attacked coalition service members in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing at least one of them, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. It raises the number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 25. ISAF said one of its service members was killed as a result of an insurgent 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. The nationality of the service member involved was also not immediately disclosed by ISAF, again per its policy. "It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities," ISAF said in a brief statement, giving no specific details. The alliance does also not disclose whether other service members were injured. U.S. Air Force Captain Daniel Einert, an ISAF spokesman, said the death was not related to an operation in eastern Logar province in which Afghan and coalition forces rescued two kidnapped Afghan soldiers. The alliance said the operation resulted in the deaths of 23 insurgents, but there were no reports of casualties among Afghan or coalition forces. Also on Wednesday, Britain`s Ministry of Defense released the identity of a British soldier who died Tuesday after an insurgent attack on a patrol base in southern Afghanistan`s Helmand province a day earlier. The ministry identified the casualty as 24-year-old Lance Corporal Jamie Webb. The death on Wednesday raises the number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 25, according to official figures. A total of 402 ISAF troops were killed in Afghanistan in 2012, down from 566 fatalities in 2011 and 711 in 2010. 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 100,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, including some 68,000 U.S. troops and 9,000 British soldiers. Approximately 3,800 British soldiers are expected to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of 2013, with all foreign combat troops due to leave by the end of 2014.