Wire: 4 US Servicemembers Killed in Afghan Blast

Off the Wire:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2009 -- Newswire services this morning reported that a roadside bombing killed four U.S. servicemembers, the first American combat deaths of 2010 in Afghanistan, while a British soldier died during a foot patrol elsewhere in the south of the country, officials said Monday.

The Associated Press reported that a statement from NATO's International Security Assistance Force said the explosion that killed the U.S. servicemembers took place Sunday in the south, but did not give further details.

AP said the deaths are the first U.S. fatalities from combat in Afghanistan this year. One U.S. servicemember has died of non-combat causes so far in 2010.

(Report from newswire sources.)