Five US soldiers in the Nato-led force in Afghanistan died in three separate attacks in the country's south yesterday, the alliance said.
Three soldiers died after a bomb detonated, one soldier was killed by gunshot wounds during an assault by militants, and another died from injuries sustained in an attack while on patrol, Nato said.
Four died in the same small district of Zabul province, including three killed when their Stryker vehicle struck a bomb.
The Stryker brigade in Zabul is part of the influx of US troops sent by President Barack Obama over the summer to try to reverse Taliban gains.
The deaths come as the Obama administration debates whether to send still more forces to Afghanistan.
The Pentagon said the US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, would ask this week for additional American forces, up to as many as 40,000 troops.
But some question the wisdom of sending more troops to support a government facing hundreds of fraud allegations from the disputed August 20th presidential election.
Agencies