KABUL, Afghanistan — Two United States soldiers were killed during a military operation in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, bringing to nine the total number of American military fatalities in the country this year.

A statement released by the American-led NATO mission in Afghanistan confirmed the two deaths but did not provide further details.

Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman, said the two service members were killed in an ambush in eastern Wardak Province.

The deaths came just days before the next round of talks between the Taliban and the United States. The new round is scheduled to start on Saturday in Doha, the Qatari capital. </s> The U.S. military did not immediately provide any details about the deaths, which occurred a day after a visit to Afghanistan by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

But the Taliban claimed responsibility, saying the two were killed in an ambush.

This is a developing story. It will be updated. </s> TIRINKOT (Pajhwok): Dozens of Taliban militants have been killed and scores of others wounded during a joint operation by Afghan and NATO forces in this capital city of central Uruzgan province, sources said on Tuesday.

Two Afghan commando personnel were also killed and two others wounded in the operation that commenced last night and ended on Tuesday afternoon in Khanqa area of Tirinkot.

Conflicting accounts were given about Taliban’s casualties in the operation. ANA commander in Uruzgan Gen. Rahmat Shah Qimati said dozens of insurgents were killed and wounded in the operation.

He said nothing about casualties to security forces, but another military commander Zamari said two commandos were killed and as many wounded in the firefight. He said 35 Taliban were killed and a large number of others wounded.

But area police officer Malak Zainullah put the Taliban’s death toll at 60 with scores others wounded.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf Ahamdi said three commandos were killed in the operation, but said nothing about their own casualties. </s> CLOSE

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, is greeted by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani at the Presidential Palace in Kabul on June 25, 2019, during an unannounced visit. At right is Afghan Chief Executive Officer Abdullah Abdullah. (Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP)

Two U.S. service members were killed in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the American-led NATO mission in Afghanistan said in a statement.

The identities of the soldiers were being withheld pending notification of next of kin. The statement did not offer any details surrounding the circumstances of their deaths.

A spokesman for the Taliban, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the two service members were killed in an ambush in eastern Wardak Province, the New York Times reported.

The deaths occurred one day after an unannounced visit to Kabul, the Afghan capital, by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is holding direct talks with the Taliban in Doha, the Qatari capital. The seventh round of the talks are scheduled to begin on Saturday.

"We've made clear to the Taliban that we're prepared to remove our forces. I want to be clear, we've not yet agreed on a timeline to do so," Pompeo told reporters during an unannounced stop in Afghanistan on Tuesday. The presence of troops in Afghanistan is "conditions-based, he said.

The Taliban refuse to talk directly with the Afghan government, which it considers a puppet of the U.S.

More than 2,400 U.S. service personnel have died in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led coalition invaded the country after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. The coalition sought to crush the Taliban and hunt down al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

The U.S. makes up the overwhelming majority of 14,000 coalition troops in Afghanistan. About 100,000 troops were stationed there at the height of the war.

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/06/26/aghan-war-2-u-s-service-members-killed-possible-taliban-ambush/1569137001/ </s> An Afghan soldier has shot and killed two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar, officials say.The soldier who turned his gun on the Americans was wounded during the attack and is now in custody, said the spokesman, Ahmad Sadiq.The U.S. military said on July 29 that two of its service members were killed in Afghanistan, but provided no details.Speaking on condition of anonymity, U.S. officials said that they had died in a so-called insider attack.In such attacks, sometimes referred to as "green-on-blue," Afghan forces turn their weapons on international soldiers with whom they are working.At least 11 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the beginning of the year.The United States has about 14,000 troops in the country as part of a 23,000-strong NATO-led mission that is training and assisting the Afghan government's security forces in their fight against Taliban militants and other extremist groups. </s> At least 18 policemen were killed after Taliban insurgents ambushed a convoy of Afghan forces in Farah province last night, a local official said on Monday.

Dadullah Qani, a member of Farah provincial council told Ariana News that a convoy of Afghan security forces was ambushed by Taliban fighters when the convoy was on its way from Farah city to Lash Jawin district.

He added that at least 18 policemen including Lash Jawin newly appointed police chief were killed in the attack.

According to Mr. Qani, the convoy was dispatching the newly appointed district police chief along with some weapons and ammunition when it came under attack.

Security officials have not made a comment about the report yet.

The attack comes a day after U.S. top commander in Afghanistan visited Farah city and vowed to support Afghan forces in the province.

Farah is among the volatile provinces in the west of Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgents are actively operating in a number of its districts and usually carrying deadly attacks against government forces. </s> At least 10 officers killed in two days of fighting for control of key highways

At least 10 policemen died in clashes with Taliban fighters in the central Afghan province of Wardak, officials said on Sunday, amid fighting to wrest control of important highways a day after the insurgents blew up bridges.

The Taliban set fire to a government building in Wardak's Sayeed Abad district and killed the district police chief along with nine other officers on Saturday night, a senior police source said.

Repeated assaults on strategically important provinces, such as Wardak and nearby Ghazni, have been a show of strength by the Taliban, underscoring how volatile security remains in Afghanistan two weeks before parliamentary elections.

Afghan security forces killed at least 25 Taliban insurgents, government officials said. Reinforcements from neighbouring provinces were sent to regain control of the contested highways.

Officials said Afghan forces drove out Taliban insurgents from the highway that connects the capital, Kabul, to the major southern city of Kandahar.

Abdul Rahman Mangal, a spokesman for Wardak's governor, said the Taliban raided civilian homes after killing the 10 policemen, destroyed newly built checkpoints and cut power to some parts of the city.

Afghanistan’s power company said major power lines serving Wardak and Ghazni were cut. The power cuts also affected parts of the nearby provinces of Logar and Paktia.

A statement from the Taliban's main spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said the insurgents took the centre of Sayeed Abad and all surrounding security checkpoints, killing members of the security forces and seizing weapons, ammunition and vehicles.

Mohammad Arif Noori, a spokesman for Ghazni's governor, said one soldier was killed by Taliban fighters as they tried to take parts of the province nearly two months after being pushed back from its main city by US-backed Afghan forces.

The Taliban attacked Ghazni, a strategically important centre straddling the main highway linking Kabul with Afghanistan's south, in August. It was the largest tactical operation launched by the insurgents since they overran the northern city of Kunduz in 2015.

That confrontation killed 150 members of the security forces and 95 civilians, as well as hundreds of Taliban fighters.

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_______________ </s> Two U.S. soldiers were killed in Afghanistan's restive southern province of Kandahar Wednesday when a Taliban suicide bomber rammed a vehicle filled with explosives into a convoy of foreign forces.

"Two U.S. service members were killed in action in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when their convoy came under attack," Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said.

"U.S. Forces Afghanistan will provide additional information as it becomes available," he added.

The assault is the latest blow to NATO forces, who ended their more than a decade-long combat mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2014.

Since then Afghan troops and police, beset by soaring casualties, have struggled to beat back the resurgent Taliban, while facing the growing menace of the Islamic State group.

Afghan officials said the attack, which was quickly claimed by the Taliban in a text message to AFP, happened around noon (0730 GMT) in the Daman area of Kandahar.

NATO confirmed in a statement that a convoy was attacked and did "cause casualties" but did not immediately give further details.

At least one witness reported seeing three bodies pulled from one of the vehicles.

Mohammad Azim, a shopkeeper, told AFP: "I saw a foreign forces vehicle on fire after the attack. A while later helicopters landed in the area, they took three bodies out of the vehicle and flew away. There were three armored vehicles in the convoy."

The Taliban have a heavy presence in poppy-growing Kandahar province and have launched repeated attacks there.

They have been ramping up their campaign against beleaguered government forces, underscoring rising insecurity in the war-torn country during the summer fighting season, when the warmer weather tends to spur an increase in militant attacks.

Early last month a U.S. soldier was killed and two others wounded in an attack in Kandahar's neighboring Helmand province while conducting operations against the Taliban.

Private First Class Hansen Kirkpatrick, 19, of Wasilla, Alaska died following the "indirect fire" assault, which means he was hit by a mortar or some other incoming round.

The attacks come as United States President Donald Trump weighs sending more American troops to Afghanistan nearly 16 years after the U.S. invasion to topple the Taliban regime.

U.S. troops in Afghanistan now number about 8,400, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, a far cry from the U.S. presence of more than 100,000 six years ago. They mainly serve as trainers and advisers.

American military commanders in Afghanistan have requested thousands of extra boots on the ground and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is believed to be close to presenting a new U.S. military strategy for Afghanistan to Trump.

Tuesday's attack came a day after suicide bombers throwing grenades killed more than 30 Shiite worshipers at a mosque in Afghanistan's main western city of Herat.

No one claimed responsibility for the assault but IS has regularly attacked Shiites over the past year as it tries to make inroads in Afghanistan following setbacks in the Middle East, leaving Afghan forces and its international allies facing a twin Taliban and IS insurgency. </s> KABUL (Pajhwok): Two American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan , NATO ’s Resolute Support mission said on Monday, but provided no further details.

The service members were both killed on Monday, the Resolute Support said in a statement, which added the names of the fallen soldiers were being withheld for 24 hours after notification of next of kin was complete.

However, some sources said an Afghan National Army soldier opened fire at the Americans in Shah Wali Kot district of southern Kandahar province, killing two service members.

The attacker was also shot injured and arrested by the US forces, the sources said.

Their deaths come less than a week after a Croatian soldier with the NATO Afghanistan mission was killed and two others seriously wounded in a Taliban suicide attack in Kabul.

On July 13, a US special forces soldier, Sergeant Major James G. Sartor, was killed by small arms fire during operations in Faryab province in northern Afghanistan.

The deaths of the two service members on Monday bring to 12 the number of American forces killed in Afghanistan this year, the same number as all of 2018.
Two U.S. Troops are killed in an ambush by the Taliban in Wardak Province, Afghanistan.