Bomb hits U.S. patrol in Afghanistan

A suicide bomber kills at least two soldiers in Kandahar province in the south. The Taliban claims responsibility.
Associated Press

January 9, 2009

Kabul, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber struck U.S. troops patrolling on foot Thursday in southern Afghanistan, killing at least two soldiers and three civilians and wounding at least nine civilians, officials said.

The bomber hit the U.S. patrol on a busy street in Kandahar province's Maywand district, said district chief Naimatullah Khan. American victims were taken away by helicopter, Khan said, but he could not provide a number.

Army Col. Jerry O'Hara, a U.S. military spokesman, confirmed that U.S. casualties occurred but said he could not give further details.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization said two of its soldiers died in the blast, but it did not provide nationalities. U.S. soldiers serve as part of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, claimed responsibility for the blast in a phone call to an Associated Press reporter in southern Afghanistan.

The blast came at a time when the U.S. is rushing 20,000 American troops into Afghanistan to combat a Taliban insurgency that has sent violence to record levels.

U.S. officials have warned that the violence will probably intensify. More U.S. troops died in the Afghan conflict in 2008 than in any other year since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban.

The independent website icasualties.org puts the number last year at 157.

The attack also followed an allegation from Afghan President Hamid Karzai that clashes between U.S.-led troops and insurgents left 17 civilians dead this week.

The U.S. military says all 32 people killed in the fighting were militants.

In a statement Thursday, Karzai said the civilians were killed during clashes between U.S.-led troops and insurgents in the eastern province of Laghman on Tuesday.

Karzai accused the insurgents of using civilians as human shields but also criticized international forces.

The U.S. military, however, said all those killed were militants involved with a bomb-making cell.

"We held [a meeting] with local government officials after the operation, and all local Afghan leaders confirmed that all 32 killed in this operation were hostile militants," said O'Hara, the spokesman.