Bomb kills four U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan

By Paul Tait

KABUL (Reuters) - Four U.S. 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 U.S. military confirmed the casualties were all Americans. No other details were available.

U.S. 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 U.S. President Barack Obama's new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and its militant Islamist allies in the region and stabilize Afghanistan.

At least 27 U.S. soldiers have been killed in combat so far in July, according to U.S. 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, defense 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.