KABUL, 16 November 2005 — A bomb killed a US soldier in Afghanistan yesterday as the capital stepped up security measures after twin suicide blasts blamed on Al-Qaeda and another incident that police said had left nine people dead.
The soldier was killed and another was injured when a home-made bomb hit their vehicle in restive southeastern Paktika province, the US military said in a statement. Two Afghan soldiers and a civilian were also wounded.
The statement did not say who was behind the attack but similar ones have been blamed on insurgents loyal to the fundamentalist Taleban government toppled in a US-led invasion four years ago.
The soldier became the 88th American serviceman to be killed this year in the US-led operation to the country. More than 50 of them died in hostile action, with this year the deadliest for the US military since it arrived.
At least two soldiers from a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) of nearly 10,000 peacekeepers have also been killed in attacks this year.
One of them, a German soldier, was among nine people police said were killed in a series of attacks in the capital Kabul on Monday.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai said in Vienna yesterday there is no timetable for the withdrawal of US-led forces from Aghanistan.
