Three NATO soldiers die in Afghanistan's west

2012-02-20 16:04:19 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL (BNO NEWS) -- Three coalition service members were killed during an operation in western Afghanistan on Monday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. It raises the number of coalition casualties so far this year to 45.

ISAF said three of its service members died during an operation in Afghanistan's west. But because the multinational force defers the release of specific details to national authorities, other information about the circumstances of the incident were not immediately available.

The nationalities of the service members were also not immediately disclosed by ISAF, which considers the provinces of Badghis, Farah, Ghor and Herat to be in the country's west. Those regions are mostly home to Spanish, Italian and American troops.

Monday's deaths raise the number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 45, according to official figures. The deadliest incident so far this year happened on January 19 when a NATO helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan, killing six U.S. Marines.

A total of 566 ISAF troops were killed in Afghanistan in 2011, down from 711 in 2010. A majority of the fallen troops were American and were killed in the country's south, which is plagued by improvised explosive devices (IED) attacks on troops and civilians.

There are currently more than 130,000 ISAF troops in Afghanistan, including some 90,000 U.S. troops and more than 9,500 British soldiers. U.S. President Barack Obama previously ordered a drawdown of 23,000 U.S. troops later this year, and foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

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