The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has identified three American soldiers who were killed in an IED (improvised explosive device) attack in southern Afghanistan last week, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said late on Sunday.
They were: Sgt. 1st Class Jeffrey C. Baker, 29, of Hesperia, California, assigned to 766th Ordnance Company, 63rd Ordnance Battalion, 52nd Ordnance Group, Fort Stewart, Georgia, Spc. Mitchell K. Daehling, 24, of Dalton, Massachusetts, and Spc. William J. Gilbert, 24, of Hacienda Heights, California, both assigned to 3rd Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.
According top DoD officials, the three American soldiers, who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom, died on May 14 in Sanjaray, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with an IED.
Although the ISAF said in a press release that a fourth U.S. soldier who also died on May 14 as a result of the same IED attack had been identified, it failed to disclose the soldier's name. Besides, the U.S. Defense Department had not posted any statements identifying the fourth soldier on its website.
Incidentally, the ISAF had reported the deaths of the three U.S. soldiers a day after the attack took place. It subsequently said last Thursday that a fourth soldier had also succumbed to injuries sustained in the same attack.
According to ICasualties.org, an independent website that monitors military casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan, a total of 66 foreign soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan this year, with U.S. troops topping the list with 53 deaths.
There are over 100,000 foreign troops from more than 48 countries in Afghanistan to contain a resurgent Taliban in the war-ravaged South Asian country. The U.S. continues to be the single biggest contributor to the ISAF, with 68,000 soldiers on the ground.
Currently, the ISAF is making serious efforts to ensure that the Afghan security forces are capable of handling the country's security ahead of the planned withdrawal of all coalition troops from the country by end of 2014. However, there are wide concerns about the ability of Afghan forces to counter Taliban insurgency without the same level of foreign military assistance and presence.
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