Monday, 6 July 2009

The US military says six of its troops have been killed in two separate bomb blasts in Afghanistan, amid a spate of insurgent activity across the country.

It says four of the soldiers were killed in the northern town of Kunduz, Two others died in the south, but the US military gave no further details.

Separately, at least two people died in a suicide bombing near a Nato base in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the Kunduz and Kandahar attacks.

In another development, Canada's military said on Sunday that a Canadian soldier injured in Afghanistan last month had died.

The latest insurgent attacks came as thousands of US and UK forces continued with a major offensive against the Taliban in the southern Helmand province - the stronghold of the militants.

'US convoy'

In Kunduz, the four American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb.

They victims were involved in the training of the Afghan security forces, the US military said. It gave no other details.

Local Afghan officials in Kunduz earlier said the attack targeted a convoy of US soldiers.

They said two Afghan civilians were also killed.

Separately, the US military said that two other American soldiers were killed in the south.

Some reports suggest the attack took place in Zabul, north of Kandahar.

All the six US soldiers were serving in the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).

In the earlier suicide bombing Kandahar, at least two people were killed and many others wounded, officials say.

The attacker blew up his minivan near Kandahar airfield - a major Nato base in the region. No foreign soldiers are reported to have been injured in the attack.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8136384.stm