KABUL (Reuters) - Four U.S. soldiers were killed in action in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, the latest sign of a growing militant insurgency that threatens to disrupt landmark elections due in September.
In one of the worst losses for American forces since the fall of the Taliban late in 2001, four service members assigned to a special forces unit were killed in the southern province of Zabul, scene of regular guerrilla attacks in recent months.
More than 700 people have died in violence since August, most of it blamed on Taliban and al Qaeda fighters who have declared a "jihad," or holy war against foreign and Afghan troops as well as aid organizations.
The acceleration in attacks on U.S. and Afghan forces in the last two months is particularly worrying as the country heads toward its first ever free vote, which the West hopes will give legitimacy to a government seen by many as a U.S. puppet.
"Four U.S. service members assigned to the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, Afghanistan were killed in action today here in southern Afghanistan," said a brief statement from the U.S. military, received early on Sunday.
"Names will not be released until notification of next of kin is complete."
The deaths take to 90 the number of U.S. fatalities in Afghanistan, 56 of them in combat.
A spokeswoman said there were no more details available.
In what has been a bloody week for Afghanistan, seven Afghan soldiers and four suspected Taliban fighters died in clashes in the southern province of Helmand on Saturday and two American soldiers were wounded near the Pakistani border on Thursday.
U.S. aircraft supporting a patrol that came under fire on Tuesday in the southern province of Kandahar pounded Taliban positions, killing at least two militants, and a Norwegian peacekeeper was killed in a grenade attack in Kabul a week ago.
Reuters News
In one of the worst losses for American forces since the fall of the Taliban late in 2001, four service members assigned to a special forces unit were killed in the southern province of Zabul, scene of regular guerrilla attacks in recent months.
More than 700 people have died in violence since August, most of it blamed on Taliban and al Qaeda fighters who have declared a "jihad," or holy war against foreign and Afghan troops as well as aid organizations.
The acceleration in attacks on U.S. and Afghan forces in the last two months is particularly worrying as the country heads toward its first ever free vote, which the West hopes will give legitimacy to a government seen by many as a U.S. puppet.
"Four U.S. service members assigned to the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, Afghanistan were killed in action today here in southern Afghanistan," said a brief statement from the U.S. military, received early on Sunday.
"Names will not be released until notification of next of kin is complete."
The deaths take to 90 the number of U.S. fatalities in Afghanistan, 56 of them in combat.
A spokeswoman said there were no more details available.
In what has been a bloody week for Afghanistan, seven Afghan soldiers and four suspected Taliban fighters died in clashes in the southern province of Helmand on Saturday and two American soldiers were wounded near the Pakistani border on Thursday.
U.S. aircraft supporting a patrol that came under fire on Tuesday in the southern province of Kandahar pounded Taliban positions, killing at least two militants, and a Norwegian peacekeeper was killed in a grenade attack in Kabul a week ago.
Reuters News
