Slain soldiers lay on a blood-soaked pavement beside a blown-off leg and strewn helmets. Afghan police rushed to try and move the soldiers into vehicles.
The American soldiers were taking tourist photographs in a nearby park in Maymana, the capital of the relatively peaceful Faryab province, when they were targeted, provincial police chief General Abdul Khaliq Aqsai told Reuters.
Four civilians and two Afghan policemen were also killed in the attack, which came ahead of the traditional summer fighting months and wounded at least five more Afghans, Aqsai added.
“We warned them (Americans) not to roam around the city,” Aqsai said, adding that witnesses said the bomber walked right up to them and screamed “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) before detonating his suicide vest.
NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said three of its service members had been killed in the north by an improvised explosive device. A spokesman declined to name the soldiers’ nationality, or where the blast took place.
