US Death Toll In Afghanistan Highest Since 2001 Invasion

KABUL, Afghanistan — Militants ambushed and killed six U.S. troops walking in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan _ the most lethal attack of the year. The deaths made 2007 the deadliest for the U.S. military here since the 2001 invasion, mirroring the record U.S. toll in Iraq.

Both conflicts have seen an increase in troop levels this year that has put more soldiers in harm's way, including those killed Friday while returning from a meeting with village elders in Nuristan province. Militants wielding rocket propelled grenades killed the six Americans and three Afghan soldiers. Eight U.S. troops were wounded.

"They were attacked from several enemy positions at the same time," Lt. Col. David Accetta, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force and the U.S. military, said Saturday. "It was a complex ambush."

The six deaths brings the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this year to at least 101, according to an Associated Press count, surpassing the 93 troops killed in 2005. About 87 died last year. The toll echoes the situation in Iraq, where U.S. military deaths this year surpassed 850, also a record.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20071110/afghanistan/