The Afghan conflict reached a new milestone when it was confirmed that an American soldier killed in the latest insider attack was the 2000th US soldier to die in Afghanistan.
The soldier and a foreign contractor were killed in eastern Afghanistan, apparently by a rogue member of the Afghan security forces. The nationality of the contractor was not immediately given.
'Insider' attacks sharply increased this year, prompting the coalition to suspend joint operations this month.
However, such operations resumed in recent days, the Pentagon said.
The American death toll goes back to the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
The two new deaths occurred on Saturday in Wardak province, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said.
Afghan officials say the incident took place at a checkpoint near an Afghan National Army base in the district of Sayedabad.
The police chief of Wardak province told the BBC that a number of Afghan soldiers had also been killed.
