The US-led ISAF coalition reports that 5 US service members were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan. Later reports, said two more Americans were killed in an insider attack by an Afghan army soldier. Insider attacks were announced as part of the tactics that would be used by the Taliban in the spring offensive.
Such attacks by members of the Afghan security forces against colleagues or international troops have eroded confidence in the Afghan forces slated to take over security by the end of 2014.
Colonel Thomas Collins, a US military spokesperson, confirmed to CBC news, that the two soldiers killed in the insider attack were Americans. The Taliban claimed they carried out the attack. In the IED incident, a spokesperson for the governor of Kandahar province said that a coalition patrol hit the bomb in the Maiwand district, an area that is the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban. Captain Luca Carmiel confirmed that all five victims were Americans. The
Kandahar province police Chief, Abdul Razeq told AFP news:
"Five American soldiers were killed at about noon when their armoured vehicle hit a powerful roadside mine in Maiwand district."
This attack happened just four days after
three British soldiers were killed in a similar attack but in the neighbouring province of Helmand. Altogether, 19 US personnel have died in the last week in air crashes and the bombing on Saturday.
