Three troops under US command, dozens of Afghan soldiers die in separate attacks

KABUL — Three foreign troops serving under the U.S. military’s command and more than 40 Afghan soldiers were killed in two separate attacks in Afghanistan, officials said.

The foreign soldiers lost their lives during a combined, dismounted patrol with Afghan forces in eastern Afghanistan, the coalition said in a statement.

The losses are the most in a single attack for the coalition in many months in Afghanistan, where Taliban insurgents and sympathizers of the Islamic State have stepped up their strikes in recent months.

A spokesman for the Taliban said the group carried out the attack, which came less than two weeks after U.S. officials and Taliban emissaries held direct talks over how to end the protracted war.

In addition to the three killed, the coalition said in the statement, “Another Resolute Support service member, which U.S. Forces-Afghanistan acknowledged was an American, and two Afghan National Army soldiers were also injured in the blast.”

“Their sacrifice will endure in both our hearts and history, and further strengthen our resolve,” Gen. John Nicholson, the U.S. top military commander in Afghanistan, was quoted as saying in the statement.

The statement did not identify the nationality and location of the incident.

A spokesman for the Afghan defense ministry, Mohammad Radmanesh, said by phone the incident occurred in a village near the U.S. main military base of Bagram, in Parwan province, to the north of Kabul. The Taliban spokesman also said the attack took place there.

The attack is part of increasing violence in Afghanistan, where several dozen national security forces lose their lives daily in Taliban and other militant strikes.

Local officials in southern Uruzgan province said 42 Afghan army soldiers were killed early Sunday when a group of Taliban insurgents stormed their posts in an area of the province.

In Kabul, Radmanesh confirmed the incident and that there were losses but did not provide any figures.

He said there was an ongoing battle in which the Taliban has also suffered casualties.

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