Coalition troops kill 30 militants in Afghanistan

At least 500 Americans have died as a result of the 2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — U.S.-led coalition soldiers killed more than 30 militants during three days of fighting in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said Saturday.

A roadside bomb, meanwhile, killed a soldier serving under the separate NATO-led force, in eastern Afghanistan. NATO did not release any details, including the soldier’s nationality, but most soldiers in the east are American.

The U.S.-led coalition, which oversees U.S. special forces units and international police and army trainers, said militants attacked a coalition and Afghan patrol “numerous times” as the troops traveled through the Zamto Valley of Kandahar province Wednesday through Friday.

The U.S. and Afghan forces returned fire and called in airstrikes from fighter aircraft, the coalition said. No coalition or Afghan forces were reported wounded or killed in the fights.

More than 3,200 people — mostly militants — have been killed in insurgency-related violence this year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Western and Afghan officials.

As of Saturday, at least 500 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.

Of those, the military reports 355 were killed by hostile action.

Outside the Afghan region, the Defense Department reports 65 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Of those, the military reports 355 were killed by hostile action.