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| Three US soldiers wounded by landmine explosion in Afghanistan
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, July 19 (AFP) - Three US soldiers were wounded when their vehicle was hit by a bomb in northeastern Afghanistan, a US military spokesman said Saturday. "Three coalition soldiers were wounded and one vehicle was damaged when an improvised explosive device detonated in the middle of their convoy approximately eight kilometers south of Asad Abad yesterday (Friday) afternoon, " Lieutenant Colonel Douglas Lefforge told reporters at Bagram Air Base, 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Kabul. BizVantage – Beyond the news - a realtime Net clipping service: for business, investment or technology. "It was a deliberately planted bomb," he said, adding it was not known who was behind the attack in eastern Kunar province. Similar attacks have been blamed on remnants of the ousted Taliban regime and the al-Qaeda terrorist organisation. "The three soldiers were medically evacuated to Bagram Air Base yesterday and are in stable condition," Lefforge said. He said they could be shifted to Germany for further treatment if the injuries are deemed to be serious. The names of the soldiers are being withheld for privacy, he said. Eight Afghan soldiers were killed and one seriously wounded Friday in a similar incident in southeastern Khost province which Afghan authorities blamed on al-Qaeda fighters. A US military base at Spin Boldak, east of Kandahar province, late Friday came under rocket attack but there were no casualties, Lefforge said. "Two rockets impacted in the vicinity of the fire base at Spin Buldak last night," he said. Lefforge said Afghan police were searching for the attackers in a nearby village. Some 19 months after the toppling of the Taliban regime, remnants of the militia and its allies from Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network continue to launch regular attacks on US-led forces and pro-government troops mainly in the southeastern border region. A US-led coalition force of some 11,500 troops is currently hunting down Taliban fugitive fighters and their al-Qaeda allies in south and east of the country. str/mmg/bro Afghanistan-US-attacks
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