Baghdad, November 28 (RHC)-- At least three U.S. soldiers have been killed and three others wounded when an improvised explosive device went off in central Afghanistan, the NATO mission in the war-torn country says.

A brief statement by the NATO-led Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan released on Tuesday added that the incident took place near the central Afghan city of Ghazni earlier in the day.

The statement further noted that a U.S. civilian contractor had also been injured in the blast.  The identity of the soldiers and further details of the incident were not immediately released by the NATO mission.

The deaths are the latest in an increasing toll on the American forces in Afghanistan.  On Saturday, a U.S. army soldier was shot dead following a purported operation against the Takfiri al-Qaeda terrorist group in the southwestern province of Nimruz.  The NATO mission said in a statement that the trooper had been accidentally killed by a member of Afghan partner forces.

A recent report showed that the U.S. forces were losing ground to Taliban militant group despite their 17 years of presence in the militancy-infested country.

According to the iCasualties website, 3,555 US-led troops, including 2,414 American soldiers, have been killed since the onset of the aggression on Afghanistan some 17 years ago, following the 9/11 terror attacks.

The U.S., along with a number of fellow-NATO members, invaded Afghanistan in 2001, toppling a Taliban regime in control of most of the country at the time, but it has failed to restore security in the country plagued by militancy and terrorism.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is now negotiating with the Taliban group, excluding the Kabul government.  Over 8,000 people lost their lives or were wounded in Afghanistan between January and September this year, with the country on track to be deadlier than Syria in 2018.  Kabul blames the Taliban militant group for the bulk of the deaths.

Last year, Washington added thousands of additional troops to its forces in Afghanistan.  The White House claims the American troops are deployed in Afghanistan to train Afghan forces and conduct counter-terrorism missions against militant groups.