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US Marines - Source: Reuters -
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Four US soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, military officials said, making July the deadliest month of the war for American forces.
In the south, a British Tornado fighter jet crashed at a major NATO base. Both crew members escaped serious injury but it was the third aircraft incident in as many days as foreign forces press ahead with new offensives against the Taliban.
With military casualties rising, Afghanistan's growing insurgency is also taking a heavy toll on civilians. In the remote west, 12 Afghan traders were killed when their van hit a roadside bomb most likely meant for Afghan or foreign troops.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan issued a short statement late on Monday saying four of its soldiers had been killed by a roadside bomb.
A spokesman for the US military confirmed the casualties were all Americans. No other details were available.
US commanders have warned of a spike in casualties after thousands of U.S. Marines and British soldiers launched major new offensives in the Taliban heartland of Helmand this month.
The offensives are the first major operation under US President Barack Obama's new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and its militant Islamist allies in the region and stabilise Afghanistan.
At least 27 US soldiers have been killed in combat so far in July, according to US military figures, more than in any other month of the eight-year-old war. The previous highest monthly total was 26 killed in September last year.
Soldiers are now dying at rates nearing the worst suffered during the war in Iraq.
Deadliest month
July had already become the deadliest month of the war for all foreign troops with well over 50 killed, Britain and its previously over-stretched troops in southern Helmand suffering most alongside the Americans.
British troops have suffered their greatest battlefield losses since the 1980s Falklands War, with eight killed in a single day this month, prompting debate over whether soldiers are adequately equipped and whether they should be there at all.
A British soldier was killed by an explosion in Helmand on Sunday, defence officials said. At least 187 British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, more than the 179 lost during the six years of the Iraq war.
British commanders are warning that an extra 700 troops sent to help secure the August 20 presidential election will have to stay longer and even more may be needed if the goal of seizing ground from the Taliban and then holding it is to be achieved.
Concern is also growing at the lack of adequate Afghan troops available to hold ground once it is taken, adding to pressure on foreign forces even as thousands more troops and trainers are poured into the country.
"Ejected safely"
NATO spokesman Captain Glen Parent said a Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 aircraft crashed shortly after take-off at the sprawling Kandahar Air Field, the main military base for foreign troops in Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban.
NATO officials said the crash was not the result of an attack by insurgents. However, Taliban spokesman Qari Muhammad Yousuf said the insurgents had shot down a NATO aircraft near the Kandahar base, killing several soldiers.
The Taliban routinely claim responsibility for downing U.S. and NATO aircraft, usually with inflated casualty numbers.
Speaking via a satellite telephone from an undisclosed location, Yousuf said foreign troops have been suffering "huge casualties" in Afghanistan.
The two-seater TornadUS suffers deadliest month in Afghanistan
o crashed in flames inside the base, Parent said. "It had British crew. They both ejected safely from the aircraft and are being treated for minor injuries," he said.
On Sunday, a civilian Mi-8 transport helicopter crashed at the Kandahar base, killing 16 people, the second fatal crash of a Soviet-era helicopter in the south in less than a week.
In the east, a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet crashed on Saturday, with both crew members killed.
Troop increase
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday announced a temporary increase in the size of the US Army that would boost the force by up to 22,000 troops for three years.
He told reporters at a news briefing that the increase, intended to cope with strains from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, would raise the total strength of the Army to 569,000 soldiers. The Army has just recently completed an expansion to 547,000 members.
"The Army faces a period where its ability to deploy combat brigades at acceptable fill rates is at risk," Gates told reporters. "This is a temporary challenge which will peak in the coming year and abate over the course of the next three years."
The increase is smaller than a plan backed by Senator Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which would have added about 30,000 troops to active duty.
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