KANDAHAR: Two US soldiers were killed in Afghanistan’s restive southern province of Kandahar Wednesday when a suicide bomber rammed a vehicle filled with explosives into a convoy of foreign forces.
“Two US service members were killed in action in Kandahar, Afghanistan, when their convoy came under attack,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said.
“US Forces Afghanistan will provide additional information as it becomes available,” he added.
The assault is the latest blow to NATO forces, who ended their more than a decade-long combat mission in Afghanistan at the end of 2014.
NATO confirmed in a statement that a convoy was attacked and did “cause casualties” but did not immediately give further details.
At least one witness reported seeing three bodies pulled from one of the vehicles.
Mohammad Azim, a shopkeeper, told AFP: “I saw a foreign forces vehicle on fire after the attack. A while later helicopters landed in the area, they took three bodies out of the vehicle and flew away. There were three armoured vehicles in the convoy.”
The attacks come as United States President Donald Trump weighs sending more American troops to Afghanistan nearly 16 years after the US invasion to topple the Taliban regime.
US troops in Afghanistan now number about 8,400, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, a far cry from the US presence of more than 100,000 six years ago. They mainly serve as trainers and advisers.
