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(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
BY JASMINE BAILEY
Five U.S. troops serving with NATO are dead after an explosion in Afghanistan's Kandahar
province on Saturday.
According to a news release the soldiers died "following an improvised explosive device
attack." Their identities have not yet been released. (Via ISAF)
Stars and Stripes reports their vehicle hit the roadside bomb causing it to detonate.
At the end of April Afghanistan launched its "Spring offensive'
"Aimed at defeating those they describe as western invaders, a reference at U.S. lead
forces that are in the process of drawing down." (Via Voice of America)
Creating safer armored vehicles for U.S. and coalition troops has been a priority for allies
in the past few years. (Via USA Today)
And in response, insurgents have been trying to keep up by creating bigger, stronger bombs.
(Via Herald Scotland)
Just on Tuesday, three British troops were killed in Helmand — the result of a similar
incident. They were in a 15-ton vehicle, regarded as one of the safest in the British military.
(Via The Guardian)
The Helmand and Kandahar provinces are among the most heavily populated with Taliban fighters
in Afghanistan — Kandahar reportedly being the terrorist organization's "spiritual birthplace."
Saturday's bombing brings this year's death toll of coalition troops to 47, 37 of which
are American.