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1st LD Writethru: Two U.S. soldiers killed in operation against IS militants in Afghanistan

Xinhua, April 27, 2017 Adjust font size:

Two U.S. soldiers were killed and one was injured on Wednesday evening during an operation against Islamic State (IS) militants in Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar, the coalition forces said on Thursday.

"The service members were conducting a partnered operation with Afghan National Defense and Security Forces," the U.S.-Forces Afghanistan said in a statement.

The latest casualties have brought to four the number of foreign soldiers killed in clashes with the IS militants in the Nangarhar since early 2015 when the militant group emerged there.

Gen. John Nicholson, the U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, has offered sympathies to the families and friends of the victims, according to the statement.

On April 13, the U.S. forces in Afghanistan struck an IS cave complex by the largest non-nuclear bomb in the mountainous Achin district of the province, 120 km east of Kabul, killing nearly 100 IS fighters and destroying a militants' hideout together with several bunkers and tunnels.

More than 1,900 IS militants have been killed during clashes and airstrikes since early 2015 in Afghanistan's mountainous provinces bordering Pakistan. Endit