( CNN ) -- Two U.S. Army soldiers were killed Thursday in Afghanistan , the Department of Defense said . Staff Sgt . Benjamin G. Prange , 30 , of Hickman , Nebraska , and Pfc . Keith M. Williams , 19 , of Visalia , California , were killed by an IED blast in Mirugol Kalay in Kandahar Province , the DOD said . Also on Thursday , Pfc . Donnell A. Hamilton , 20 , of Kenosha , Wisconsin , died at Brooke Medical Center in San Antonio , Texas , from an illness he contracted in Ghanzi Province in Afghanistan . With combat operations in Afghanistan ending this year , President Barack Obama has announced he plans for almost 10,000 American troops to remain in the country in 2015 if the Afghan government signs a security agreement . U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry recently brokered an agreement between the nation 's two presidential candidates -- Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani -- to accept the outcome of an audit of the recent election . Preliminary results from the June runoff showed Ghani in the lead , but Abdullah alleged massive election fraud . The inauguration of the new president , originally scheduled for the first week of August , will be postponed while the votes are recounted . Violence still flares . On July 15 , a car bomb exploded in a busy market in eastern Afghanistan , killing more than 40 people , officials said , in what is said to be the deadliest attack in the country this year .
Two soldiers were killed by IED in Kandahar Province on Thursday . Another soldier died Thursday in Texas from an illness contracted on duty in Afghanistan .