Bomber rams US convoy in Afghanistan

KABUL (Reuters) – A Taliban suicide car bomber rammed a
U.S. coalition convoy in the southeast Afghan province of Khost
on Tuesday, wounding some troops, a U.S. military spokeswoman
in Kabul said.

“We have very limited information, but there are no reports
of coalition casualties, only reports of injured,” said
Lieutenant Tamara Lawrence, adding that she did not know how
many soldiers were injured or the extent of their injuries.

The attacker blew himself to pieces and his vehicle was
completely destroyed, while two U.S. soldiers suffered slight
injuries, according to Wali Shah Najar, secretary to the
provincial governor.

The latest attack comes during the bloodiest period in an
insurgency that has been raging since U.S.-backed forces ousted
a Taliban government from power in late 2001.

Some 400 people were killed last month alone, as the
Taliban has stepped up attacks in the south in an apparent
attempt to weaken NATO governments’ resolve as a U.S.-led
coalition will hand control of the southern provinces to the
alliance’s peacekeeping force in July.

The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency said a
Taliban spokesman, Mohammad Hanif, had called to claim
responsibility for the attack by one of the militants’
fighters.

He named the car bomber as Agha Gul, and said the attack
had killed six foreign troops and three Afghans.