Two US soldiers were killed by a bomb blast in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force announced. The statement by the headquarters of the international force in Afghanistan did not say exactly where the soldiers were killed, but the provinces of Helmand and Kandahar are the focus of the Taliban insurgency.

"Two ISAF service members from the United States died of their wounds after an improvised explosive device strike in southern Afghanistan today," ISAF said. Thirty foreign soldiers, 18 of them American, have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year, after last year saw record losses totalling 520 foreign soldiers. US military deaths in Afghanistan doubled in 2009 to 317, compared to 155 the previous year. The majority of foreign troop deaths are caused by improvised roadside bombs.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010