Roadside bombing kills 4 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, British soldier also dies

By Jim Heintz Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Washington Post & Associated Press

KABUL --

A roadside bombing killed four U.S. service members -- the first American combat deaths of the year in Afghanistan  -- while a British soldier died during a foot patrol elsewhere in the volatile south of the country, officials said Monday.

A statement from NATO's International Security Assistance Force said the explosion that killed the U.S. service members took place Sunday in the south, but did not give further details on the location or the victims' branch of service.

Afghan insurgents are increasingly turning to improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, in their fight against Afghan and international forces. Of the 304 U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan last year, 129 were caused by IEDs, according to a tally by the Associated Press.

The British soldier died while on foot patrol Sunday in Helmand province, the British Ministry of Defense said.

The Afghan Defense Ministry said its soldiers killed 10 Taliban fighters in battles Sunday in northern Kunduz province's Imam Sahib district, which borders Tajikistan. One soldier was wounded in the clash.

Also Monday, NATO said a joint Afghan-international force discovered a huge cache of marijuana and turned it over to police for destruction. NATO said the cache contained up to 28,000 cubic feet of marijuana -- the equivalent of about seven standard semitrailers.

As the United States and other Western nations have tried to help Afghanistan stamp out its poppy fields -- the country is the world's leading opium producer -- an increasing number of farmers have turned to marijuana, which is receiving less attention from authorities.