3 Italian soldiers killed in Herat

HERAT CITY/ KABUL (PAN): Three Italian soldiers with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed during an operation in western Herat province on Monday, officials and the alliance said.

The ISAF media office in Kabul announced the deaths in a brief statement that neither disclosed the nationalities of the fallen troops nor the exact location of the incident.

But a police officer, Mohammad Salim, told Pajhwok Afghan News the three Italian servicemembers died during an operation when their vehicle flipped over in the Awkal area of Shindand district.

Meanwhile, an Italian military source in the province confirmed the mishap occurred when the soldiers’ vehicle tried to pull out another car from a river in the area.

With the latest fatalities, the death toll for foreign forces in Afghanistan has increased to 45 servicemembers. Last year, 566 international soldiers were killed in the country.

Since 2001, 1,897 US soldiers, 45 Italian and 34 Spanish troops have been killed in Afghanistan. There are more than 4,000 Italian soldiers fighting against insurgents while most of them were stationed in the western Herat province.

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