BOMB KILLS 2 US TROOPS; NATO LOSSES AT 24 FOR JUNE

Bomb kills 2 US troops; NATO losses at 24 for June

By ROHAN SULLIVAN

Associated Press Writer
updated 8:07 a.m. CT, Tues., June 8, 2010

KABUL, Afghanistan - Three more NATO troops were killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday, the military said, extending a spike of bloodshed into a second day and pushing the death toll for foreign forces in the country to 24 in little more than a week.

The latest deaths, including at least two Americans, came as insurgents step up bombings and other attacks ahead of a major NATO operation in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar that Washington hopes will turn the tide of the nearly 9-year-old war.

Monday was the bloodiest day this year for international forces in Afghanistan, when seven American troops, two Australians and a French Legionnaire were killed in five separate insurgent attacks in the south and east of the country. Two civilian contractors training police, an American and a Nepalese, also died in a brazen suicide attack Monday in the southern city of Kandahar.

NATO said two service members were killed Tuesday in a makeshift bomb blast in southern Afghanistan, and the U.S. military confirmed they were Americans.

NATO said later that another service member was killed Tuesday in small arms fire in southern Afghanistan. No further details were given.