5 U.S. Troops Injured in Afghanistan

A roadside bomb wounded five U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan, and a suicide attack on a U.S.-led coalition convoy in the south killed the bomber but no one else was hurt, officials said.

After the roadside bombing in mountainous Kunar province, insurgents opened fire on the troops, a U.S. military statement said.

The wounded service members were airlifted for treatment to Bagram, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, it said. Their condition was not immediately available.

The suicide bombing happened on a main road in Maywand district, Kandahar province, when the convoy of coalition and Afghan forces was passing. None of the troops in the convoy was believed to have been hurt, said Gen. Rahmatullah Raufi, the local army chief.

Security forces shot and killed an alleged accomplice of the bomber as he was fleeing on a motorbike, Raufi said.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Mohammed Hanif, claimed responsibility in a phone call for both of the attacks.

In other violence, a gunman broke into the home of Sayed Sadeq, the speaker of northern Takhar province’s governing assembly, and shot him to death Saturday, said Ghulam Hazarat, the deputy local police chief.

Sadeq was well respected in the mountainous region and supported the country’s U.S.-backed central government.

Before the Taliban was ousted in late 2001, he was a mid-ranking commander in a militia run by former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is now wanted by the United States.