Two American service members were killed Wednesday when their helicopter came down in eastern Afghanistan, TheWashington Post reports. The Taliban claim the chopper was shot down while U.S. forces were preparing to launch an attack in the area, but the U.S. military said it was still investigating the cause of the crash. The two deaths brought the number of U.S. combat fatalities in Afghanistan this year to 19. It’s already been a deadlier year than 2018, when a total of 13 U.S. service members were killed in the country. About 2,400 have died there since the war began in 2001.
