4 US soldiers killed in Afghan assault
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-22 08:49

A massive bomb exploded under a wooden bridge as a convoy of armored Humvees was crossing it Sunday, killing four U.S. soldiers and wounding three others in the deadliest assault on American forces in Afghanistan in nearly two months, reported AP.

The troops were part of a major offensive against militants who have vowed to subvert legislative elections on Sept. 18.

Rebels also stepped up attacks elsewhere, wounding two U.S. Embassy staff in a roadside bombing in the capital and killing a senior pro-government cleric and a colleague in the country's south.

Though the U.S. military operation has left dozens of suspected rebels dead or captured, a number of American troops also have been killed, including 13 this month. U.S. and Afghan officials have warned violence may worsen ahead of the polls.

The bomb tied to the bottom of the small bridge exploded as the last of three Humvees was slowly crossing it, said Bashir Ahmad Khan, the government chief in Zabul province's Daychopan district.

Afghan boys stand near a blast site in the Paghman district on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday Aug 21, 2005. Two U.S. Embassy staff were wounded in a roadside bomb in the capital as four 4 U.S. soldiers were killed in another bomb attack in Zabul, southeast Afghanistan. [AP]

"It was an enormous remote-controlled bomb. The American vehicle was tossed into the air and off the bridge. It's totally destroyed, as is the bridge," he told The Associated Press.

The three wounded troops were hit by shrapnel from secondary explosions as they tried to pull the four soldiers out of the burning Humvee, the military statement said. The three were evacuated to a nearby base and were in stable condition.

Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, the U.S.-led coalition's operational commander, said the blast would "strengthen, not weaken, the resolve" of the troops to safeguard the polls.

A vehicle that was damaged in a blast in Paghman, a resort area located some 20 km (12 miles) west of the Afghan capital Kabul, is seen in this August 21, 2005 image taken from television footage. [Reuters]

It was the deadliest attack on American forces since June 28, when 19 service members were killed in eastern Kunar province when a Navy SEAL team was ambushed and a helicopter shot down.

Some 187 U.S. service members have been killed in and around Afghanistan since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001 錕斤拷 including 64 during a rash of insurgent attacks in the last six months, which have left about 1,000 other people dead as well.

The bloodshed has led the military to rush in an airborne infantry battalion of about 700 troops on standby in Fort Bragg, N.C., boosting the number of American troops in Afghanistan to about 20,000. Some 3,100 soldiers from 19 other nations also are members of the U.S.-led coalition.

A separate NATO-led peacekeeping force also has brought in reinforcements ahead of the polls and now numbers about 10,500.

A helicopter carrying NATO peacekeepers crashed in a western Afghan desert and another flying with it made an emergency landing Tuesday, killing 17 Spanish troops and wounding five, although investigators have so far found no evidence that the helicopters were downed by hostile fire.

The Spanish soldiers were part of the NATO-led security force preparing for the elections, and their deaths marked the alliance's largest single loss of life in Afghanistan.

The recent violence in Afghanistan pales next to the casualties suffered in Iraq but it has dampened some of the optimism that prevailed after the country's inaugural presidential election passed off peacefully last fall and insurgent attacks dropped off during the winter.

The roadside bomb that exploded near a convoy of U.S. Embassy vehicles on the outskirts of the capital, Kabul, lightly wounded two American staff members, embassy spokesman Lou Fintor said.

The blast smashed the front of an armored four-wheel-drive vehicle but did not shatter its windows, footage obtained by Associated Press Television News showed. Such bombings are relatively unusual in the capital. Local police officer Nazir Ahmad blamed the Taliban for the attack, saying it was part of their campaign to intimidate people ahead of the polls.

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

Abdullah 錕斤拷 a senior figure in the Islamic Ulama Council 錕斤拷 and a colleague were killed as they walked out of a mosque after praying at dawn Sunday, said Interior Ministry official Dad Mohammed Rasa. Police set up roadblocks around the area, but no one was arrested.

Two roadside bombs also exploded near police convoys in the southern provinces of Zabul and Uruzgan late Saturday, each killing two officers, officials said.

Gunmen also opened fire on a senior cleric in southern Spin Boldak district Sunday, but he fled into his house and was unhurt, local police chief Abdul Wasai Khan said.

In the eastern province of Kunar, rebels ambushed two tanker trucks hauling fuel to a U.S. military base, burning the vehicles but letting the drivers go, officials said.

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