Coalition soldier dies in Afghanistan insurgent attack

Coalition soldier dies in Afghanistan insurgent attack

2010-11-04 17:33:56 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- A coalition service member was killed in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

ISAF said the service member, whose nationality was not immediately released, was killed following an insurgent attack in the eastern region of Afghanistan. "It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities," the alliance said.

Coalition casualties in Afghanistan have been rising sharply this year, with around 90 fatalities in July alone, making it 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. 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.

So far this year, more than 600 coalition service members have been killed. Most of them were American and died in Afghanistan's war-torn southern region. In 2009, the total death toll stood at 521.

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