Bomb Kills Two US Service Members in Afghanistan

[Flaneur]

Source: Associated Press

KABUL — A bomb attack killed two U.S. service members in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, while Afghan officials said at least 18 militants died in a recent operation in the same region.

A spokesman for U.S. forces, Col. Wayne Shanks, confirmed that the dead were Americans but declined to provide further details until family members were notified.

Thousands of U.S., NATO and Afghan forces have poured into southern Afghanistan in recent months to try to rout Taliban from areas long ruled more by the militants than by the government of President Hamid Karzai.

U.S. Marines and Afghan troops mounted a massive operation in the southern town of Marjah this spring and troops are increasing pressure in the southeastern province of Kandahar — the birthplace of the former Taliban regime.

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Violence has been rising countrywide in recent months. In northern Kunduz province on Tuesday, about 50 students at a girls' school were hospitalized after losing consciousness or vomiting in what the top local health official called a suspected poison gas attack.

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Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD9FKPVL00

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Expect these little stories to be a daily occurrence as the summer heats up.