Roadside Bomb Kills U.S. Soldier In Helmand

A U.S. soldier was killed and six others were wounded by a bomb in Lashkar Gah city of Helmand, officials said on Tuesday.

The American soldier’s death comes days after more than 100 U.S. soldiers were deployed to Helmand to help plan the strategic city’s defense against a fierce Taliban assault.

Recently, the Taliban have intensified their offensives against the Afghan forces in order to capture the strategic city of Lashgar Gah, the capital of Helmand province.

The increased U.S. presence around Lashkar Gah in particular, more than two years after British soldiers closed their last base in the city, highlights a scramble to prevent the fall of a major population center.

For weeks before the Americans’ arrival, top Afghan generals were being sent from Kabul to hold the line as district after district came under attack, with the Taliban surrounding the city.

In a statement on Tuesday, the U.S. military said the service member had died of “Wounds sustained during operations near Lashkar Gah,” when a joint patrol encountered an improvised explosive device.

Six Afghan soldiers and another U.S. soldier were wounded in the blast. It was the second death of a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan this year.