Explosion in Afghanistan kills seven US soldiers, injures three

SEVEN US soldiers were killed and three injured in an explosion yesterday, US Central Command said. One American soldier was missing.

An Afghan interpreter was also injured in the 3pm explosion near the city of Ghazni, 60 miles south-west of the capital, Kabul.

The soldiers had been working around a weapons cache when the blast happened, Centcom said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear if the blast was an accident or if it was triggered deliberately.

“The cause has yet to be determined,” said Capt Bruce Frame.

Neither US military officials in Kabul nor Afghan officials in Ghazni or the capital could be reached after the announcement late yesterday.

The wounded soldiers were evacuated to a hospital at Bagram Air Base, the main base for the US-led coalition in Afghanistan. Names were being withheld pending notification of relatives.

The US death toll in the two-year anti-terrorism campaign focused on Afghanistan reached 100 earlier this month.

Only 16 Americans died in the lightning war that drove the Taliban from power at the end of 2001 for providing a refuge and base for Osama bin Laden. The rest of the Americans died after the Taliban’s defeat, many in accidents and about a third of them outside of Afghanistan.

In November, five US soldiers died in a helicopter crash near the main US base at Bagram, north of Kabul, apparently due to mechanical failure.

The United States contributes most of the 11,000-strong force focused on combating Taliban militants and their al-Qaida allies, mostly in southern and eastern provinces such as Ghazni.

Troops regularly clash with militants who have also mounted a wave of deadly attacks on Afghan troops and government targets.

This month alone, about 80 people have died in violent incidents, including civilians, militants, police officers and US soldiers.