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.)

OEF Update, Jan. 2, 2010: Forces in Afghanistan Nab Insurgent

Dispatches from the Front:

KABUL, Afghanistan, Jan. 2, 2010 -- In operations yesterday, the Afghan National Police (ANP) arrested an insurgent after discovering two missiles in a vehicle and two additional missiles in a house in the Shekar Derrah district of Kabul. The ANP continues to investigate.

ISAF Casualty:

There were no ISAF fatalities in the last 24 hours in Afghanistan.

(Compiled from NATO International Security Assistance Force news releases.)

Wire: Surge Success, December 1st Month Without US Combat Deaths in Iraq

Off the Wire:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 2, 2010 -- Newswire services this morning reported that December was the first month since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq nearly seven years ago in which no U.S. forces died in combat in the country.

However, three U.S. troops died in December as a result of non-combat related incidents in Iraq.

According to an Associated Press count, 149 U.S. troops died in Iraq in 2009. That includes combat-related deaths and those not related to fighting.

That's the lowest number of U.S. deaths for a year since the Iraq war began in 2003.

(Report from newswire sources.)