5 U.S. Troops Killed as Afghan Violence Swells

[Orwellian_Ghost]

5 U.S. troops killed as Afghan violence swells
By Laura King

26 Afghans, most of them members of a wedding party, are reported killed in roadside bombings. The Americans died in two separate incidents.

August 6, 2009

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan -- The pace of American combat deaths in Afghanistan has quickened anew as roadside bombs killed five U.S. troops in 24 hours in the same western province, the American military said today.

The deaths bring to 11 the number of American soldiers killed in Afghanistan so far in August, on the heels of what was the worst month for Western and U.S. troop fatalities since the conflict began in 2001. Forty-three American servicemen died in July.

Violence has been surging in advance of Afghanistan's presidential and provincial assembly elections, which are two weeks away. In addition to the troop fatalities, a total of 26 Afghans, most of them members of a wedding party, were reported killed in roadside bombings today.

The American deaths occurred in Farah province, bordering Iran, where a force consisting mainly of U.S. Marines staffs a string of small forward operating bases set deep in the desert. They are connected by a route that American forces have been struggling for months to keep free of improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, which have made road travel extremely dangerous for villagers and military convoys alike.

...

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-violence7-2009aug07,0,6266361.story

[RC]

1. Troops is so impersonal. Why not say something like '5 military men'?

Those are real people dieing over there, both local citizens who belong there and the members of the military of the last so called super power, that should not be there in the first place.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

3. Completely agree

[TexasObserver]

2. We need to get out of this war.