US troops injured by Afghan bomb

A ROADSIDE bomb wounded six US troops in the same mountainous area where a commando team was ambushed and a special forces helicopter shot down last month, the US military said yesterday.

Militants opened fire on the US convoy after the blast yesterday in Kunar province’s Asadabad district, prompting US forces to launch air strikes and artillery fire against suspected enemy positions, a US military statement said. It was not immediately known if any enemy fighters were killed or wounded, it said.

The wounded US troops were in stable condition after being taken to an airfield in nearby Parwan province for medical treatment.

“We are aggressively looking for the individuals responsible for this attack,” said US army spokesman Lt Col Jerry O’Hara.

On June 28, militants ambushed a US Navy SEAL commando team in Kunar, killing three of its four members. The fourth escaped after spending days in the rugged mountains. The helicopter had 16 troops on board who were rushing to help the ambushed special forces team.

US forces responded to the killings by rushing hundreds of troops to Kunar, but many of the militants fled across the nearby Pakistani border and regrouped, provincial officials said. Yesterday’s attack was the first deadly assault on US forces in Kunar since last month.

Meanwhile, yesterday in the Afghan capital, Kabul, a small bomb exploded at a police checkpoint, injuring two officers and a passer-by and damaging a UN vehicle, police said.

Rebels have stepped up attacks across Afghanistan since March, killing more than 750 people and raising fears for crucial legislative elections in September.