Bomb kills four US soldiers

A ROADSIDE bomb killed four US soldiers and wounded three yesterday as they were patrolling in southern Afghanistan, the deadliest attack on American forces here in nearly two months, the US military said.

Militant assaults elsewhere killed a senior pro-government Islamic leader and two Afghan policemen, as Taliban-led rebels stepped up a campaign to subvert key September 18 elections. Seven US soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan over the past four days.

Yesterday’s blast that killed US troops occurred in Zabul province’s Daychopan district, the military said. The three wounded soldiers were hit by shrapnel and were in stable condition, the military said.

In southern Kandahar province yesterday, gunmen riding a motorbike shot dead cleric Mawlawi Abdullah, the latest in a string of attacks on religious leaders who have openly condemned the Taliban and other extremists.