Taliban Claim Responsibility For IED Blast That Killed Six U.S. Troops Yesterday

A horrific day for U.S. and NATO troops yesterday with a roadside IED blast killing six U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan.  The story below from DAWN states that the Taliban are claiming responsibility for the attack and while this report doesn't confirm that the dead are U.S. troops, that has been confirmed here at ABC News.

From the DAWN report:

The Taliban claimed responsibility on Monday for a roadside bombing that they said killed six American troops in a volatile part of eastern Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement the blast struck the US troops in their armoured vehicle around 8 pm Sunday in Wardak province, just south of Kabul.

Coalition and Afghan forces are trying to secure areas of Wardak that insurgents use as gateway into the Afghan capital where they stage high-profile attacks on Afghan government and Nato targets.

Nato would not disclose the nationalities of the service members killed, but Wardak provincial police chief Gen Abdul Qayum Baqizoi said they were American.

He said that after the Americans were killed in Jalrez district, a coalition air strike killed a local Taliban commander and wounded three insurgents.

This is one of the worst IED attacks we have seen on American troops in a long time and it is further evidence of a major push by the Taliban in several areas of Afghanistan - you'd have to be blind not to notice that the Taliban have been exceptionally emboldened ever since more and more details of the U.S. withdrawal from the war has been announced.

Taliban claim bombing that killed six US troops


KABUL: The Taliban claimed responsibility on Monday for a roadside bombing that they said killed six American troops in a volatile part of eastern Afghanistan.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement the blast struck the US troops in their armoured vehicle around 8 pm Sunday in Wardak province, just south of Kabul.

Coalition and Afghan forces are trying to secure areas of Wardak that insurgents use as gateway into the Afghan capital where they stage high-profile attacks on Afghan government and Nato targets.

Nato would not disclose the nationalities of the service members killed, but Wardak provincial police chief Gen Abdul Qayum Baqizoi said they were American.

He said that after the Americans were killed in Jalrez district, a coalition air strike killed a local Taliban commander and wounded three insurgents.

Also in the east, authorities said gunmen assassinated a chief prosecutor in Ghazni province Monday morning as he drove to work.

Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the deputy provincial governor, said Sahar Gul was shot twice—once in the head and once in the chest.

The Taliban routinely target Afghan government officials to weaken support for President Hamid Karzai’s administration.

Sunday was a particularly deadly day in Afghanistan. Roadside bombs and militant attacks killed the six American soldiers, as well as 19 Afghan civilians and seven Afghan policemen.