Coalition death toll in Afghanistan so far this year reaches 200

[News_Editor]

Coalition death toll in Afghanistan so far this year reaches 200

2011-05-27 22:32:40 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- Two coalition service members were killed in southern Afghanistan on Friday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said, raising the coalition death toll so far this year to more than 200.

The toll is a grim reminder that insurgent groups such as the Taliban are still capable to inflict heavy losses on coalition forces, but the number is slightly lower when compared to last year. Between January 1st and June 1st, 2010, a total of 220 coalition service members were killed in Afghanistan.

However, the overall coalition death toll also includes casualties from non-hostile incidents such as vehicle accidents, but the vast majority of service members are killed as a result of insurgent attacks. Most die in the southern region of Afghanistan, mainly due to improvised explosive device (IED) attacks.

In Friday's incident, an ISAF service member was killed in southern Afghanistan as a result of an insurgent attack, the multinational force said, giving no other details. "It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities," a brief statement said.

Another service member was killed as a result of a non-battle related injury in southern Afghanistan, according to ISAF, raising the year's coalition death toll to 201.

On Thursday, eight coalition service members were killed when an IED exploded in southern Afghanistan. Another service member died in a helicopter crash in Paktika province. It was one of the bloodiest days so far this year for the alliance.

Coalition casualties in Afghanistan have been rising sharply in recent years, with a total coalition death toll of 709 in 2010, making it the deadliest year for international troops since the war began in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

The council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) eventually declared that the attacks of 9/11, which killed nearly 3,000 people from scores of countries, was considered an attack on all NATO nations. The NATO-backed war in Afghanistan aims to defeat the Taliban and other insurgent groups in the country.

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