Afghan Insurgent Attack Kills Two Coalition Soldiers

Two foreign soldiers in the U.S.-led coalition were killed and three American troops were wounded in separate attacks Tuesday as insurgents continued an offensive that has sparked some of the heaviest fighting in Afghanistan in several years.

The foreign coalition soldiers died when their armored vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the eastern province of Nangarhar. They were part of a patrol carrying out combat security operations in the Khogyani district, the military said in a statement.

A third soldier and an Afghan interpreter were wounded. None of the victims’ names were released, or in the case of the foreigners, their nationality. American and German troops are the only foreign forces in the coalition known to be operating in Nangarhar, said Ghafour Khan, spokesman for the provincial police chief.

No Afghans were allowed to get near the scene of the blast, which destroyed the coalition vehicle around 3 p.m., he said.

Also Tuesday, a suicide attacker detonated a Toyota Corolla packed with explosives next to a U.S. military convoy about five miles outside the eastern city of Khowst, police chief Mohammed Ayub said by phone. Three American soldiers were injured. Two were transported to a hospital for treatment, and the third suffered minor injuries, the military said.

The car bomb exploded about 9 a.m. as the vehicle was traveling in the opposite direction of the convoy just north of Khowst, near Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan.

“We believe that this suicide attacker has come from Pakistan through a smuggling route,” Ayub said.

Pakistan says it is doing its best to prevent insurgents from using its territory to launch attacks in Afghanistan. But Afghan officials and U.S. military intelligence reports contend that Taliban leaders and bases continue to operate in Pakistan.

“Our investigation is in progress, and we will try our level best to get to the root of this incident,” Ayub said. “But regardless, we think of this as a useless attack and waste of energy and time by Al Qaeda.”

Khowst was an important base for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden before U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban government in late 2001. Suicide attacks are relatively rare in eastern Afghanistan but have become regular events in the country’s south since the insurgency began to escalate more than a year ago.

Attacks by Taliban and allied fighters have risen sharply in recent weeks.

Hundreds of people have died, most of them suspected insurgents killed in counterattacks by U.S., Afghan and other coalition forces.

The violence has intensified as North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops, including British, Canadian and Dutch forces, prepare to take over from U.S. troops in southern Afghanistan next month.

In the last week, improvised explosive devices have killed nine civilians and wounded 13 others across Afghanistan, said Col. Tom Collins, a spokesman for U.S. forces here.

On Sunday, a suicide car bomber apparently targeting the governor of Kandahar province in the south killed himself and three Afghan civilians when he rammed his vehicle into a Canadian military convoy escorting the governor.

Twelve other civilians were wounded, but none of the Canadian troops were injured.

Suspected Taliban fighters killed Edi Mohammed, director of public health for Paktika province, on Saturday in an ambush as he traveled to work, the U.S. military said.

In one of several battles Monday and Tuesday, U.S. and Afghan forces killed at least 13 insurgents in the Terin Kot district of Oruzgan, a southern province. Two coalition soldiers were wounded, the military said.

In a separate incident, at least four Afghans were killed Tuesday when explosives detonated outside a mosque near the city of Ghazni, Afghan officials said.

The Interior Ministry said the explosives went off accidentally and were intended for attack somewhere else.

Police investigating the Ghazni blast arrested a local cleric in the nearby village of Qala Qazi, about 80 miles southwest of Kabul, the capital.