Suicide attack kills 10 Afghans, US soldier: officials

A suicide attack targeting a coalition convoy in eastern Afghanistan Thursday killed an American soldier and at least 10 civilians, including a 13-year-old child, officials said.

At least nine Afghans died at the scene of the blast, near a market in an area often crowded with people, the governor of Batikot district in Nangarhar province told AFP.

Another 74 were wounded, some of them critically, and the provincial health director Ajmal Pardais said a 13-year-old child later died in hospital.

“A total of 74 people were brought to hospitals. Some of them with superficial wounds were discharged after medical care and some are in critical condition,” Pardais said.

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The attacker detonated an explosives-laden vehicle close to the convoy on the road between the town of Torkham, on the Pakistani border, and the provincial capital city of Jalalabad.

“One American soldier was wounded in the bombing and he died during transportation,” said Major John Redfield, a spokesman for the US-led coalition in Afghanistan.

A spokesman for Taliban insurgents, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack.

A separate explosion in southern Afghanistan killed two soldiers with NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the allied force said on Thursday.

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