Another two US soldiers were killed Wednesday in attacks in insurgent flashpoints of Afghanistan, NATO announced. One soldier was killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) blew up in the south and the second died from hostile fire in the east, another stronghold of an increasingly virulent Taliban-led insurgency. After less than nine months, 2009 has become the deadliest year for foreign soldiers in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime and implanted a Western-backed administration. According to the independent icasualties.org website, 298 US and NATO-led troops have died so far this year and 66 this month. The Taliban, in power between 1996 and 2001, have stepped up their attacks each year, prompting US President Barack Obama's administration to send additional troops in an effort to defeat the Islamist rebels. There are around 100,000 US and NATO-led troops in Afghanistan, where 294 foreign soldiers died in 2008. 