Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Seven NATO troops were killed in Afghanistan Thursday, bringing the number of foreign troop deaths in the past two days to 13, the International Security Assistance Force said.
An improvised explosive device attack killed three service members in the west, and two died in an insurgent attack in the south. One died after an insurgent attack in the east, and another was killed in an IED attack in the south.
On Wednesday, six foreign troops were killed.
ISAF has not announced the nationalities of any of the dead, in line with policy leaving identification up to the victims' home countries.
Forty coalition service members have died this October in Afghanistan so far in the deadliest year of the nine-year-old war for foreign troops.
The number of troops killed so far this year is 586, the highest yearly toll in the conflict.
The highest monthly coalition death toll occurred in June, with 103 foreign troop deaths, a figure that includes Americans and service members other nations.
In July, 65 Americans died, the highest monthly death toll for U.S. service members.
The deaths come at a time when the war has become a subject of fierce debate in the United States and other countries that have contributed troops to the war effort.
Gen. David Petraeus, who took command this summer as the top military official in Afghanistan, led the 2007-2008 campaign to stabilize Iraq after years of insurgent and sectarian warfare following the U.S. invasion of 2003.
CNN
