Bomb blast kills 2 coalition troops in southern Afghanistan

USPA News - A roadside bomb exploded in southern Afghanistan on Monday, killing two coalition service members, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said. It raises the number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 388. ISAF said two of its service members were killed as a result of an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Afghanistan`s volatile 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 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 also refuses to disclose whether service members were injured. The deaths on Monday raise the number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 388, 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 nearly 105,000 ISAF troops in Afghanistan, including some 68,000 U.S. troops and 9,500 British soldiers. U.S. President Barack Obama previously ordered a drawdown of 23,000 U.S. troops by the end of this year, and 22,000 of them have already left in recent weeks. Foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.