A US service member was killed in an improvised explosive device blast on Tuesday while on patrol in eastern Afghanistan, the Pentagon announced. There were no other casualties in the blast in the Nangarhar province, Defense Department spokesman Peter Cook said during a Tuesday briefing. The service member was conducting operations with Afghan forces as part of an overall counterterrorism mission against ISIS, according to an Operation Resolute Support statement. The name and specific service has not been released.
The Pentagon is significantly bolstering airpower near Venezuela, dispatching the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to Latin America, it said in an Oct. 24 statement. The announcement came just hours after U.S. Air Force B-1 bombers and other U.S. assets flew near the Venezuelan coast on Oct. 23.

