- KABUL (Reuters) - An explosion
near an arms cache in southern Afghanistan killed seven U.S. soldiers on
Thursday in one of the deadliest blows in months to American forces hunting
Taliban and al Qaeda guerrillas.
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- U.S. Central Command said in a statement the soldiers
were killed when working near an ammunition dump in the southern province
of Ghazni on Thursday afternoon.
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- Another U.S. soldier was missing and an interpreter was
also injured, the statement said.
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- "Everything else is under investigation, they'll
be wanting to establish exactly what happened," said Lieutenant Colonel
Leslie Williams at Central Command in Florida.
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- The U.S. military has a 12,000-strong force in Afghanistan
hunting Taliban and al Qaeda rebels after a U.S.-led campaign ousted the
ruling Taliban in 2001.
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- Guerrillas are most active in the south and east of Afghanistan,
but two suicide attacks in Kabul this week killed one British and one Canadian
soldier, both members of a multinational peacekeeping force in the capital.
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- The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks.
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- In November, a U.S. military helicopter crashed northeast
of Kabul, killing five military personnel. The Taliban said they shot it
down but locals said the crash appeared to be an accident.
- © Reuters 2004. All Rights Reserved.
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