Insurgents kill four NATO service members in Afghanistan

Insurgents kill four NATO service members in Afghanistan

2011-07-19 05:54:55 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- Four coalition service members were killed on Monday as a result of two separate attacks in eastern and southern Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

ISAF said three of its service members were killed as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in eastern Afghanistan. Another service member died as a result of an IED attack in the country's south.

As usual, the multinational force gave no other details about the incidents, including the exact locations and the nationalities of those killed. "It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities," a brief statement said.

But a spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense confirmed the casualty in the south, in the Nahr-e Saraj District of Helmand Province, was a British soldier from 1st Battalion The Rifles. His identity was not immediately released.

"The soldier was part of a foot patrol which had been deployed to assist with the recovery of a cache of Improvised Explosive Device components," said Lieutenant Colonel Tim Purbrick, a spokesman for Task Force Helmand. "As he led the specialist Counter-Improvised Explosive Device team to rendezvous with another patrol at the start of the operation, the soldier was fatally injured in an explosion. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."

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.

So far this year, at least 319 coalition service members have been killed in Afghanistan. Most troops are killed in the country's south, which is plagued by IED attacks on troops and civilians. Most of the casualties are American.

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