US service member killed in southern Afghanistan AP

KABUL, Afghanistan A U.S. service member died in a bomb attack in southern Afghanistan where fighting is escalating as Afghan and international forces push into areas long held by Taliban insurgents, the international military coalition said Thursday.

NATO did not release details about the service members death on Wednesday, which brought to at least 17 the number of U.S. forces killed in Afghanistan so far this month. Sixty-six American troops died in July � the deadliest month for U.S. forces in the nearly 9-year-old war.

In Kandahar province in the south, eight NATO service members were injured when their helicopter made a hard landing during a joint Afghan and coalition operation. According to initial reports, the aircraft was not taking enemy fire. An investigation is under way.

In the east, a joint Afghan and NATO force killed 12 insurgents on Wednesday in Puli Alam district of Logar province, the coalition said. Among those killed was Qari Muir, who had held several Taliban positions, including deputy shadow governor, military commander and the insurgent groups intelligence chief for Logar province, NATO said.

The insurgents were observed preparing an attack on coalition forces and were killed in air strikes, the coalition said. A weapons cache, which included rockets, mines, ammunition and bomb-making equipment also was destroyed.

Also in eastern Afghanistan, coalition and Afghan forces killed three insurgents who were members of the fundamentalist Islamic group, Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The groups followers strictly abide by the Koran and do not rely, as the Taliban does, on interpretations from clerics.

The insurgents, who were killed in fighting in Pech district of Kunar province, were members of a network linked to two rocket-propelled grenade attacks that killed two U.S. service members and wounded several others plus various other attacks on Afghan and coalition forces.

NATO also reported that technical problems forced one of its unmanned aerial vehicles to make an emergency landing Wednesday in Kunduz province. The vehicle is a lightweight, medium-range reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft that is not armed.

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