KABUL — An American service member was killed after an explosion in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, sources and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
The service member was killed as the result of an improvised explosive device (IED) in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, the alliance said in a press statement. The statement, however, said it was ISAF policy to not reveal the nationality of the fatality.
A BNO News source, however, confirmed that the casualty was an American service member. Other details were not immediately known.
Coalition casualties in Afghanistan have been rising sharply this year, with around 90 service members being killed in July alone. It was the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the war began on October 7, 2001 in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.
On September 11, 2001, two hijacked airliners crashed into both towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Another airliner crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., while a fourth crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) eventually declared that the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people from scores of countries, was considered an attack on all NATO nations. The NATO-backed war aims to defeat the Taliban and other insurgent groups in the country.
On Thursday, eight ISAF service members were injured when their helicopter made a hard landing in southern Afghanistan. The alliance said the helicopter was involved in a joint Afghan and coalition operation in Kandahar province when it made the hard landing. A total of 19 people were on board the aircraft.
ISAF said eight coalition service members sustained mild injuries as a result of the accident but did not release their nationalities. “Our policy is not to provide nationality and other details of ISAF servicemembers wounded,” a spokesperson said.
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear, but is not believed to be the result of enemy fire, ISAF added.
On Wednesday, an American service member was killed as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in southern Afghanistan, military sources said.
And on Tuesday, two Americans from New Mexico and Texas were killed following an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in eastern Afghanistan, which caused their vehicle to roll-over. Also that day, a 24-year-old service member from New York state died in western Afghanistan after an IED detonated as he attempted to disarm it.
A 39-year-old American service member from Georgia was also killed. He died of injuries at the National Naval medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland as a result of injuries he sustained on June 26 in Sayed Abad, Afghanistan.
