Eight US troop deaths make October deadliest month of Afghanistan war

Eight American soldiers and an Afghan interpreter were killed in several roadside bombs in South Afghanistan Tuesday, Oct. 27, the day after 14 Americans died in helicopter crashes. With the deaths of two US troops Sunday, a total of 24 Americans, most of them military, have died in a 48-hour period. October 2009 has seen 58 fatalities, the deadliest month for the US military since the Afghanistan war began in Oct. 2001. A day earlier, President Barack Obama said he wouldn’t “rush the solemn decision” on whether to send more troops to the war so as not to endanger the lives of US soldiers.
Monday, two helicopters collided over Helmand province killing 4 Marines. In W. Afghanistan, 7 troops and three DEA agents were killed returning from a raid of an insurgent compound.
Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah are preparing to face off next month in the second round of presidential elections which Taliban has again vowed to disrupt.
The roadside bomb (improvised explosive device) accounts for the largest number of fatalities among NATO forces in Afghanistan. Maj. Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan, said recently he had noticed their increasing sophistication. “Some of the tactics, techniques and procedures that were used in Iraq, have migrated, obviously, here.”