Blast kills coalition service member in Afghanistan's south

Blast kills coalition service member in Afghanistan's south

2012-04-12 22:30:34 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- A coalition service member was killed on Thursday when a roadside bomb exploded in southern Afghanistan, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. In an unrelated incident, a coalition helicopter made a hard landing in the country's east.

ISAF said one of its service members was killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded in Afghanistan's south. But because the multinational force defers the release of specific details to national authorities, no other details about the incident were released, including the exact location.

The nationality of the service member involved was also not immediately disclosed by ISAF. "It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities," a brief statement said.

In an unrelated incident, an ISAF helicopter made a hard landing in eastern Afghanistan on early Thursday morning. "ISAF is still in the process of assessing the circumstances to determine more facts; however, initial reporting indicates that there was no enemy activity in the area," ISAF said in a statement. The alliance said there were no fatalities, but did not disclose if any of its service members were injured.

Thursday's death raises the number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 109, most of them American and British service members, according to official figures. An IED blast also killed an ISAF service member on Wednesday, but no other details about the incident have been released as of Thursday.

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 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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