Three U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan today, while U.S. officials said the weekend death of another U.S. soldier was an accident caused by Afghan service members.
The NATO Resolute Support mission announced that three service members and a contractor were also wounded in the explosion today near the city of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul. The slain soldiers were not identified. The condition of the wounded was not known, but they are receiving medial care.
The Taliban are very active in the province and even kept parliamentary elections from being conducted there last month. The terror group didn’t yet have a report about the attack on their website, or a claim of responsibility.
It’s the deadliest attack on U.S. soldiers in the country in the past year.
On Saturday, Sgt. Leandro A.S. Jasso, a 25-year-old Army Ranger, was killed during an operation against al-Qaeda in southwestern Nimroz province, which borders Iran and Pakistan.
Resolute Support said that “an initial review indicates Sgt. Jasso was likely accidentally shot by our Afghan partner force” and “there are no indications he was shot intentionally.”
Jasso was apparently hit “when the partnered force became engaged in a close-quarter battle during an assault on one of multiple barricaded al-Qaeda shooters.”
“The loss of Sgt. Jasso is felt by his family and loved ones, by all who served with him and by all on this mission to protect our country and our allies,” Gen. Scott Miller, commander of Resolute Support and U.S. Forces Afghanistan, said in a statement.
“Sgt. Jasso was killed defending our nation, fighting al Qaeda alongside our Afghan partners,” he added. “All of us, and throughout our coalition of 41 nations, recognize the threats posed by groups such as al Qaeda and ISIS and are determined to fight them here.”
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