Explosive Device Kills 3 Nato Troops In Eastern Afghanistan

[News_Editor]

Explosive device kills 3 NATO troops in eastern Afghanistan < br /> 2012-05-08 18:36:48 GMT+7 (ICT) KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- A roadside bomb exploded in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, killing three coalition service members, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. A previously unreported death on Friday was also announced.ISAF said three of its service members were killed as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in eastern Afghanistan on Monday. 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 nationalities of the service members involved were also not immediately disclosed by ISAF, again per its policy. "It is ISAF policy to defer casualty identification procedures to the relevant national authorities," ISAF said in a brief statement, giving no specific details. The alliance does also not report injuries.Also on Monday, the U.S. Department of Defense reported an American casualty in eastern Afghanistan which had not been previously reported by ISAF. It said 38-year-old Master Sgt. Gregory L. Childs, of Warren, Arkansas, was killed on Friday in Kabul province. The U.S. Department of Defense gave no specific details about the cause of Childs' death, and it was unclear if he died in action or whether he died as a result of an accident or of natural causes. Childs was assigned to the Defense Logistics Agency at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, officials said.The identity of a U.S. Marine who was shot and killed by a rogue Afghan soldier on Sunday was also released on Monday. The U.S. Department of Defense identified the victim as 25-year-old Sgt. John P. Huling of West Chester, Ohio. He was assigned to 7th Engineer Support Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group, I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton in California."This incident is under investigation," the department said in a statement, giving no other details. U.S. officials previously said a second American service member was also injured in the shooting attack, although his condition was not released. The rogue Afghan soldier was killed when coalition forces returned fire.The deaths on Friday and Monday raise the number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 151, according to official figures. 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 by the end of this summer, and foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

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