Two U.S. service members were killed Wednesday in Afghanistan, military officials said, continuing what has become the deadliest year for troops in that country since the formal drawdown of combat operations in 2014.
Officials with Operation Resolute Support, the joint sustainment mission in Afghanistan, did not disclose the service branch of the troops or where they were killed. In accordance with Defense Department policy, names are withheld until 24 hours after the next of kin are notified.
To date, 77 troops have died supporting Operation Freedom's Sentinel, the U.S. advisory and assistance mission that began after the U.S. announced the formal end of the war. This year is now the deadliest for that mission, with 12 hostile deaths and three in non-hostile circumstances, in addition to the two announced Wednesday.
It has been less than a month since Army Pfc. Brandon Jay Kreischer, 20, of Stryker, Ohio, and Spc. Michael Isaiah Nance, 24, of Chicago, both paratroopers with the 82nd Airborne Division out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, were killed July 29 in a reported insider attack in Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan.
-- Hope Hodge Seck can be reached at hope.seck@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HopeSeck.
