Seven U.S. troops were killed Saturday in two separate incidents in Afghanistan – the second time in the past week that so many American lives were lost in a single day in the war-torn country.
Five were killed in an attack involving an improvised explosive device in the southern part of Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force said in a statement. Kandahar governor's spokesperson Jawed Faizel said the device was a large roadside bomb.
Two other U.S. troops died after an Afghan National Army soldier turned his weapon on them in what is commonly referred to as a “green on blue” attack, the ISAF said. In addition, the ISAF said another coalition service member died after an insurgent attack in northern Afghanistan, but the nationality was not released.
Nineteen American personnel have died over the past week, including a series of air crashes and the attacks on Saturday. Seven people died when a U.S. civilian cargo plane crashed and exploded shortly after takeoff from Bagram Airfield outside Kabul earlier in the week.
The deaths came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai said at a news conference that the CIA would continue funneling large amounts of cash to his government.
According to The Associated Press, Karzai said he told the CIA’s Kabul station chief: "'Because of all these rumors in the media, please do not cut all this money because we really need it. We want to continue this sort of assistance.' And he promised that they are not going to cut this money."
"We have spent it in different areas (and) solved lots of our problems," Karzai reportedly said.
The CIA payments were made in cash, Karzai said, adding that "all the money which we have spent, receipts have been sent back to the intelligence service of the United States monthly."
NBC News’ Khyber Shinwari, Courtney Kube, Jim Miklaszewski and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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