Two U.S. service members were killed and two others injured when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan Saturday, the U.S. military said in a statement.
The troops died after their vehicle struck an improvised explosive device in Kandahar province. The service members were conducting operations as part of NATO’s Resolute Support mission, officials said in a press release.
Their names and other biographical information will be released 24 hours after the notification of next of kin is completed, officials added.
Qari Yusouf Ahmadi, a Taliban spokesman, has claimed responsibility for the attack in the southern Kandahar province. He said that the bomb occurred close to Kandahar airfield in the morning.
This comes after U.S. Ambassador John Bass left Kabul last week, ending his two-year tenure as America´s top diplomat, with over 3,000 US troops recently deployed to the Middle East as tensions rise in the region following the US killing of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, who died in a U.S. airstrike ordered by President Donald Trump.
