WASHINGTON >> One American service member was killed and two wounded Tuesday in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said in a statement.

The service member died “as a result of wounds sustained during operations near Marjah,” a district in the southern province of Helmand that has been the scene of heavy fighting in recent weeks between coalition forces and Taliban insurgents.

“We are deeply saddened by this loss,” U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Wilson A. Shoffner, spokesman for the U.S.-led military coalition, said in a statement.

Officials said two U.S. medevac helicopters were sent to help U.S. special forces who came under an insurgent attack near Marjah.

One of the helicopters was waved off because of small-arms and mortar fire on the ground, the officials said. The other chopper had a “hard landing” and was disabled when its rotors hit a wall.

The damaged aircraft was unable to take off and remained on the ground, officials said.

Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told reporters that Defense Secretary Ashton Carter was briefed about the firefight by commanders in Kabul, the Afghan capital, via video conference.

In recent weeks, U.S. special forces and Afghan government forces have deployed in Helmand province to try to repel a months-long Taliban offensive. The effort to regain ground from a resurgent Taliban has taken place amid deteriorating security in large parts of Afghanistan.

Last month, six U.S. troops were killed by a suicide car bomb as they conducted a security patrol near Bagram airfield, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan. It was the deadliest attack of 2015 for the approximately 9,800 American troops still in the country.

Helmand has by far been the deadliest province for U.S. troops since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan. Last month, the Pentagon deployed special forces to Helmand to assist Afghan forces in trying to beat back a Taliban advance that has seen the fall of several districts in the province.

The Pentagon plans to keep the U.S. troops in Afghanistan for most of 2016, with the total dropping to 5,500 next year.

A Pentagon report released last month concluded security in Afghanistan is worsening as Taliban attacks increase, and along with them, Afghan military and civilian casualties.

Gen. John Campbell, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, has said the Pentagon may have to re-evaluate whether any additional U.S. troops would be withdrawn by year’s end.

“We believe we’re on the right course,” Cook said. “But this is a constant review, and the secretary’s going to continue to reach out to Gen. Campbell, hear from folks on the ground.”