An American service member has died from wounds sustained during a combat operation in eastern Afghanistan, U.S. military officials announced Thursday.
An Afghan security force member was also killed in the incident, and several others were wounded.
The fallen U.S. service member's name, branch and other information is being withheld for 24 hours after next-of-kin notification is complete, according to a NATO news release.
This is the second American service member to be killed in Afghanistan in five days. On July 7, Army Cpl. Joseph Maciel, a 20-year-old infantryman from South Gate, California, was killed in an apparent insider attack in southern Afghanistan. Two U.S. soldiers were hurt in that attack.
U.S. military personnel continue supporting local security forces in Afghanistan nearly 17 years after the war there started.
A small team of Marines with Task Force Southwest are currently deployed to Afghanistan's Helmand province. Soldiers with Train, Advise, and Assist Command-South work alongside Afghan forces in Kandahar. And members of the Air Force continue operating out of Kandahar and Bagram air fields.
Officials will release additional information about this incident as it becomes available, the release states.
-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ginaaharkins.
