February begins with US casualty in Afghanistan

Another American soldier has been killed in a bomb explosion in southern Afghanistan as the first US service member to lose life in February, 2010.

NATO confirmed the death in a statement on Monday without giving further details.

The US military death toll in Afghanistan has been on the rise. In January, at least 29 soldiers were killed compared to 14 deaths in the same month last year.

Earlier on Saturday, two American soldiers were shot dead in a gun battle in Wardak province, southwest of the capital city of Kabul.

The US and its allies have planned to send more troops to the war-torn country despite the fact that public support of the eight-year conflict continues to drop.

Many thousands of Afghan civilians have lost their lives in the controversial war.