Two American troops died in fighting in Afghanistan today, while NATO said it had killed the leader of an insurgent cell responsible for laying roadside bombs and smuggling foreign fighters into the country.
NATO said one service member was killed in the country's east, the other in the south region. where fighting between the coalition and Taliban insurgents has been at its most intense. No other details were given in keeping with standard NATO procedure.
The deaths bring to three the number of U.S. service members killed in September and follows a spike in casualties during the last two weeks of August that saw the monthly total rise to 55. The August figure was still below the back-to-back monthly records of 66 in July and 60 in June, although total U.S. combat deaths in January-August of this year — 316 — last month exceeded the previous annual record figure of 304 for the whole of 2009.
NATO said one service member was killed in the country's east, the other in the south region. where fighting between the coalition and Taliban insurgents has been at its most intense. No other details were given in keeping with standard NATO procedure.
The deaths bring to three the number of U.S. service members killed in September and follows a spike in casualties during the last two weeks of August that saw the monthly total rise to 55. The August figure was still below the back-to-back monthly records of 66 in July and 60 in June, although total U.S. combat deaths in January-August of this year — 316 — last month exceeded the previous annual record figure of 304 for the whole of 2009.
NATO said coalition forces beat back an attack on a combat outpost in Paktika province's Barmal district along the mountainous border with Pakistan, killing at least 20 insurgents. Defenders first returned fire with mortars and small arms before calling in an air assault, the alliance said in a news release, adding that no NATO or Afghan government forces were killed.
The commander was not identified by name and it wasn't clear how many fighters he controlled.
Meanwhile on Thursday, larger than usual crowds gathered to withdraw funds from Afghanistan's largest bank, but there was little sign that questions surrounding its viability had sparked a major panic.
The bank's woes also tie into the web of corruption and personal connections that has soured many Afghans on their government: President Hamid Karzai's brother, Mahmood Karzai, is the bank's third-largest shareholder with 7 percent.
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