A string of bomb blasts in eastern and southern Afghanistan Sunday
killed 14 people, including four U.S. and two British soldiers, while
coalition and Afghan forces killed five suspected militants.
A spokesman for the NATO-led forces in Afghanistan (Brigadier-General Richard Blanchette) saidthe U.S. troops were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Nangarhar province.
Britain's Ministry of Defense said two British soldiers died in an
explosion while on a patrol in the Garmsir district of the southern
Helmand province.
In the capital, Kabul, a suicide bomber blew himself up near a NATO convoy, but killed two Afghan civilians instead.
Another bomb went off in the southern city of Kandahar near a vehicle
carrying the local mayor. The official survived but one civilian was
killed.
Also Sunday, the U.S. military said coalition and Afghan forces killed five suspected militants in southern Kandahar province.
The Taliban, which have made a comeback recently after U.S.-led forces
drove them from power in late 2001, claimed responsibility for three of
the attacks.
The U.S. is sending thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan to join other Western forces in battling the insurgents.
In neighboring Pakistan Sunday, militants attacked a terminal
containing supplies for coalition troops in Afghanistan. Officials say
the attackers set fire to trucks and containers at the facility in the
northwestern city of Peshawar.
About 75 percent of NATO supplies come via routes through Pakistan.
Taliban militants in Pakistan intensified attacks on NATO convoys and
supplies last year.