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2 U.S. Soldiers, Afghan Killed in Blast

Posted on: Sunday, 8 August 2004, 06:00 CDT

KABUL, Afghanistan - Two American soldiers and their Afghan interpreter died when a bomb hit their Humvee, the U.S. military said Sunday, capping another bloody week as Afghanistan prepares for its first post-Taliban vote.

Another U.S. soldier was injured when the blast hit the vehicle on Saturday in Ghazni province, a brief military statement said. The soldier was in stable condition at a U.S. base. None of the dead or wounded were identified.

It was not clear who carried out the bombing about 140 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul. But the site lies in territory near Pakistan where suspected Taliban-led rebels regularly clash with U.S. and Afghan troops.

The deaths bring to 58 the number of American soldiers killed in action since U.S. forces entered Afghanistan in 2001 to drive the Taliban from power and attack its al-Qaida allies.

With accidents and deaths elsewhere, more than 130 American soldiers have died since Operation Enduring Freedom was launched in response to the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.

Twenty-three of the combat deaths occurred this year, making 2004 the deadliest yet and undermining claims by American and Afghan officials that militants are on the defensive and security is improving.

On Saturday, security forces in southern Helmand province averted an apparent car bomb plot against the governor, his spokesman Mohammed Wali said. The car, containing 15 rockets wired for detonation by remote control, was found in the provincial capital Lashkargah on a road where Gov. Sher Mohammed Akhundzada was to pass 45 minutes later, Wali said.

Fifteen suspected Taliban were arrested in sweeps of the town in recent days, Wali said.

Violence has intensified with the approach of the election - a vote for president on Oct. 9 which U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai is widely expected to win - and the past week has been particularly bloodsoaked.

Afghan troops and American warplanes killed as many as 70 militants near the Pakistani border on Aug. 1, officials said, one of the biggest clashes in recent years. Two Afghan soldiers also died.

The next day, two Afghans working for a German relief agency died in a hail of gunfire in Paktia, prompting the United Nations to restrict aid to thousands of returning refugees.

Gunmen also ambushed a convoy carrying election workers in Uruzgan province on Friday, killing two. A third worker who fled the scene has turned up safe, Uruzgan police chief Rozi Khan said Sunday.

The U.S.-led force of some 18,000 last month began a new operation focused on preventing attacks on the election process. About 30,000 newly trained Afghan national police and army soldiers and up to 10,000 NATO troops are also expected to help.

The U.N., which is co-organizing the vote, condemned the latest attack on election workers, but said Sunday it would press on with its preparations.

More than nine million of the estimated 9.8 million eligible Afghans have registered to vote, despite the violence that has also seen some civilians reportedly executed because they were carrying voter IDs.

"We know that people want to participate, but the concern over security remains," spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said.

American commanders say increased fighting is partly due to their stepped-up operations in Taliban strongholds populated mainly by ethnic Pashtuns, from whom the Taliban draw their main support.

U.S. forces have established a string of new bases across the south and east and are spending millions on relief projects in the hope of winning over local tribes and gaining intelligence.

American officials insist the attention devoted to the election has not diluted efforts to track down militant leaders including al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden, who some believe could be hiding along the mountainous Afghan-Pakistan border.

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