-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The death of a Canadian soldier in battle-scarred Afghanistan on Thursday brings this month 's toll of international military fatalities in the war to 47 , the highest monthly tally so far , a CNN count of official statistics shows . Lt. Col Thorneloe was one of 15 British troops killed in action in Afghanistan this month . The Canadian soldier was killed while he was conducting operations in the Panjwayi District in Kandahar province , the Canadian military said . The previous monthly record was 46 , a mark reached twice last year , in June and August . The growing death toll , which only accounts for the first half of July , comes amid an uptick in fighting across Afghanistan , where international forces and Afghan troops have been battling the Taliban . The push , called Operation Khanjar , targets militants in Helmand province , a Taliban stronghold and poppy-growing region . The forces are trying to gain and hold ground in the perilous region ahead of national elections this August . Some of the deaths resulted from nonhostile incidents such as accidents , but most have occurred during hostilities . According to a CNN count of figures from various governments , the U.S.-led coalition and NATO 's International Security Assistance Force , the deaths in July have included 23 Americans , 15 Britons , five Canadians , two Turks , an Italian and a NATO-led soldier whose nationality has not yet been disclosed . The news coincides with another grim milestone for the British military , which has seen the number of troops killed in Afghanistan surpass the death toll in the Iraq War . An especially bloody 10 days in Afghanistan 's Helmand province , the staging ground for several major recent offensives , claimed the lives of 15 British soldiers in July , putting the number of the country 's dead in Afghanistan at 184 , the Defense Ministry said . The British military has lost 179 soldiers in Iraq . The 15 deaths in July also put the British military on track to be the deadliest month yet for British troops supporting Operation Enduring Freedom . Britain 's deadliest month in Afghanistan so far has been September 2006 , when 19 died -- 14 in a single incident , the crash of a Royal Air Force plane near Kandahar . Since the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2001 , 652 U.S. troops have died in hostile and nonhostile activities throughout the country .