Four U.S. soldiers wounded in Afghan blast
Posted on: Sunday, 17 July 2005, 01:08 CDT
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.
Source: REUTERS
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