Taliban Kills Two U.S. Soldiers

An attack in Afghanistan's easter Paktika province, near the Pakistan border, resulted in two American soldiers' deaths on July 4. The Associated Press reports that Taliban militants fired rockets and mortar shells at an American base and a suicide bomber drove a truck bomb towards the base's entrance. American troops resorted to airstrikes and blew up the truck before it reached the compound. An American military spokesman said that, in addition to the two deaths, seven American soldiers and two Afghan soldiers were wounded. The number of Taliban dead remains contested: NATO, which the American forces were fighting under, said at least 10 insurgent died, whereas an official for the Afghan province's governor said more than 30 insurgents were killed. The attack occurs in the midst of the U.S. military's biggest operation in Afghanistan since 2001, a 4000-marine surge in the southern region of the nation.