US

Two US Service Members Killed In Southern Afghanistan

American flag (By HARRIS.news - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29071007)

A roadside bomb killed two U.S. service members and injured two more in Southern Afghanistan, the United States military announced Saturday.

The U.S. military did not identify the service members in keeping with Defense Department rules, The Associated Press reported, but the Taliban immediately took responsibility for the attack. A Taliban spokesman said the attack occurred in the southern Kandahar province.

The two service members were killed after their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb, according to a statement from the U.S. military. NATO and Afghan officials said early Saturday that the bomb hit an army vehicle but did not mention casualties, the AP reported, and a NATO spokesman said officials were “assessing the situation and will provide more information as it became available.”

There are about 13,000 United States troops in Afghanistan, 5,000 of which are on counterterrorism missions, according to the AP. Taliban militants conduct almost daily attacks that target both United States and Afghan troops.

The Defense Department did not yet respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.