Four U.S. soldiers wounded in Afghan blast

KABUL (Reuters) – Four U.S. soldiers were wounded in
Afghanistan when their vehicle was hit by a blast in a restive
southeastern province, the U.S. military said on Sunday.

It was the latest in a wave of violent incidents in the
troubled country, where Taliban insurgents and their Islamic
militant allies have stepped up attacks on Afghan and U.S.-led
forces ahead of parliamentary elections in September.

Dozens have been killed in recent weeks.

A home-made bomb exploded as the military convoy passed on
Saturday in Paktika province, a U.S. statement said. The
soldiers suffered minor wounds.

“These attacks drag Afghanistan backward instead of toward
a better, brighter future,” Lieutenant-Colonel Jerry O’Hara, a
U.S. military spokesman, said in the statement.

Paktika province borders Pakistan and the frontier region
is popular with insurgents because it is easy to cross over
into Afghanistan and provides excellent cover.

News of the attack on the U.S. convoy came as a private
Pakistani TV channel reported that Pakistani forces had killed
17 suspected foreign militants in a tribal region elsewhere on
Pakistan’s side of the border.

U.S. forces in Afghanistan have had their bloodiest year
since they helped overthrow the Taliban in 2001, losing 35
personnel in combating rising militancy.

Other soldiers have died in non-combat incidents, including
a helicopter crash caused by bad weather in April.

The militants are opposed to elections, and Afghan
officials and the U.S-led military force fear more attacks
ahead of the Sept. 18 vote.