KABUL: A roadside bomb killed an American soldier on Tuesday near the capital of Afghanistan’s volatile Helmand province, following the first major US deployment to the southern city since foreign forces withdrew in 2014.
The blast, which occurred during an anti-Taliban operation, left another American and six Afghan soldiers wounded, the US-led Nato coalition said.
The casualties come just a day after Nato announced the deployment of around 100 US troops to Lashkar Gah to help head off a potential Taliban takeover of Helmand’s capital as fighting intensifies.
“One US service member died as a result of wounds sustained during operations near Lashkar Gah in Helmand,” Nato said in a statement.
“The service member was killed conducting train, advise, assist activities with Afghan counterparts under Nato authorities when their patrol triggered an Improvised Explosive Device,” the statement added, without naming the soldier.
It marks the first American fatality in the country since January, when a US soldier was killed while conducting a mission with Afghan special forces in Helmand’s Marjah district.
Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2016