NATIONAL — The Taliban has claimed the attack that killed three U.S. service members and completely destroyed a U.S. tank in eastern Afghanistan, AP reported.
- Three U.S. service members killed by IED in Afghanistan
- Four others wounded in the blast
- Taliban claims attack on U.S. military
The three military members were killed on Tuesday in a roadside bombing near the city of Ghazni, the U.S. military said, in what appeared to be the deadliest attack on U.S. forces in Afghanistan in the last 17 months.
Three other U.S. service members and an American contractor were also wounded in the blast. The four injured people were evacuated and are receiving medical care, military officials said.
The names of those killed have not been released yet.
In June of 2017, the Taliban claimed an attack where an Afghan soldier shot and killed three U.S. soldiers in the Achin district of the eastern Nangarhar province.
Before that, six U.S. service members were killed in a motorcycle bomb explosion, also claimed by the Taliban, in December of 2015.
According to AP, the Taliban carry out near-daily attacks on Afghan forces, and in August the insurgents overran parts of Ghazni, leading to days of intense fighting before they were driven out. Ghazni was the only one of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces where parliamentary elections could not be held in October. Voting there has been postponed for a year.
The U.S. and NATO formally concluded their combat mission in Afghanistan in 2014, but still provide close support to Afghan forces and carry out counterterrorism operations. Some 15,000 American forces are currently serving in Afghanistan.
Overall, the Taliban have strengthened their grip over the country in recent years.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, the Taliban abducted 21 passengers from two vans that were traveling through the northern Sari Pul province, according to Habibullah Mujahidzada, a district police chief. It was not immediately clear what motivated the abduction, and there was no immediate comment from the Taliban.
No other details have been released.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
Information from CNN and the Associated Press contributed to this report.