Mine Kills U.S. Soldier in Afghanistan; 2 Civilians Die in Blast at Military Post

A land mine killed one American soldier and wounded nine others Friday near the eastern Afghan city of Ghazni, U.S. Central Command said.

The soldiers’ vehicle was part of a U.S. patrol, Army Lt. Col. Matt Beevers said.

Four of the injured soldiers were treated at the scene, the command said, and the rest were flown by helicopter to a combat hospital at Bagram air base, north of the capital, Kabul.

In the eastern city of Khowst, at least two Afghans were killed and six wounded in an explosion at a government military post near the former Taliban stronghold, police said.

The blast came hours after more than 20 rockets landed near Khowst’s airport, where U.S.-led forces are based, they said. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty reported no casualties.

Coalition forces returned fire with artillery and precision-guided bombs but had no indication that any enemy fighters were killed, Hilferty said.

Eight U.S. soldiers were killed near Ghazni on Jan. 29 when an arms cache they were working around exploded.

“All indications continue to look like it was an accident,” Beevers said, when asked about the investigation into that blast.

About 11,000 U.S. soldiers are serving in Afghanistan, fighting remnants of the Al Qaeda terrorist group and the Taliban militia.

The attacks in Khowst are the latest in a wave of incidents in which more than 550 people have been killed in the last six months, mostly in southern and eastern Afghanistan, where remnants of the Taliban are the most active.