Another U.S. service member has been killed in combat in Afghanistan this week.
The death occurred “in combat operations” on Thursday, but no other details were provided in the NATO Resolute Support Mission press release on Friday.
It’s currently unclear where in Afghanistan the incident occurred or what the cause of death might be
“In accordance with U.S. Department of Defense policy, the names of the service members killed in action are being withheld until 24 hours after notification of next of kin is complete,” the release stated.
It is the 15th death of a U.S. service member in Afghanistan combat this year, Fox News noted.
It is the deadliest year of Operation Freedom’s Sentinel since it began in 2014.
The deaths come just nine days after two Green Berets were killed by small arms fire in Faryab Province, Afghanistan.
The two Green Berets, Luis F. DeLeon-Figueroa, 31, of Chicopee, Mass., and Jose J. Gonzalez, 35, of La Puente, Calif., were identified and posthumously promoted to Master Sergent, according to a Pentagon press release.
Three weeks earlier, two U.S. paratroopers were killed in Afghanistan’s Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan Province.
The troops’ identities were revealed as Pfc. Brandon Jay Kreischer, 20, of Stryker, Ohio, and Spc. Michael Isaiah Nance, 24, of Chicago, Ill., according to a Department of Defense statement released on July 30.
Kreischer and Nance were reportedly slain by an Afghan soldier and the incident is under investigation.
President Trump reiterated on Thursday his previous sentiment that the war in Afghanistan has gone on “long enough” and the U.S. is trying to strike a peace deal that would involve a withdrawal of some U.S. troops.
