KABUL — Roadside bombs killed 268 American troops in Afghanistan last year, a 60 percent increase over the previous year. The number of U.S. troops wounded by what the military terms improvised explosive devices also soared, according to U.S. defense figures obtained Wednesday.
There were 3,366 U.S. service members injured in IED blasts last year — up 178 percent from the 1,211 hurt by the militants’ crudely made bombs in 2009, the figures showed.
Defense officials attributed the rise in casualties to the surge in U.S. forces in Afghanistan last year.
Since the U.S.-led invasion in October 2001, 619 U.S. troops have been killed and another 5,764 wounded in roadside-bomb attacks in Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon figures.
Overall, at least 1,370 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the war began.
The Associated Press
