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The US military killed Thursday in southern Afghanistan was conducting combat operations against Taliban forces, said a defense official at the VOA.
International forces present in the country had announced earlier in the day, without providing details, that a member of the US military service had been killed in action. A press release said the death was "under investigation".
Speaking to Pentagon journalists Thursday at the headquarters of the US Central Command in Tampa, Florida, Army General Joseph Votel, who oversees military operations across the Middle East, will only say that the victim is the result of a "combat action" and does not specify the location or the enemy fighter.
He added that more details would be provided after the member's family was notified.
The news came as Afghan Taliban claimed on their website that Taliban fighters had detonated an improvised explosive device on a tank in Garmsir district, Helmand province.
The Taliban added that all members of the tank service had been killed or injured. The information comes from the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist websites and translates their content into English.
The Pentagon said that about 14,000 US troops are deployed in Afghanistan. Thursday's death was the seventh US fatality fighter in the country this year.
