KABUL: A roadside bomb attack killed four US soldiers in Afghanistan as pressure mounted on Friday for US President Barack Obama to order thousands more soldiers into an escalating eight-year war.

“Two US service members were killed and two died of wounds sustained in a single improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan on October 15,” the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.

No further details were immediately available. The latest military deaths come as Obama debates whether to send thousands of additional troops to the impoverished country on top of 21,000 extra forces he committed after taking office this year.

An AFP toll based on a tally by the independent website www.icasualties.org puts foreign military fatalities this year at 414. The US president is expected to unveil a new strategy within weeks to contain an insurgency fuelled by Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

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