KABUL — Bombs and bullets killed seven American troops Monday, the deadliest day for U.S. forces in Afghanistan in nearly a year.
Separately, Taliban militants claimed on a militant Web site that they were holding an American soldier whom the U.S. military says insurgents might have captured last week. The Taliban statement, however, did not include any proof, such as a picture or the soldier’s name.
Four American soldiers died in a roadside bombing of their vehicle in the northern Kunduz province, said Navy Chief Petty Officer Brian Naranjo, a U.S. military spokesman. The soldiers were training Afghan forces, he said.
Two Americans were killed in a roadside blast in southern Afghanistan, Naranjo said. And another American soldier died of wounds in a Monday firefight with militants in the east, a U.S. military spokesman said.
It was the deadliest day for American troops in Afghanistan since July 13, 2008, when 10 soldiers were killed — nine of them when militants using small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades attacked a remote outpost in the village of Wanat near the Pakistani border.
Obama has ordered 21,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan, mainly in the south where Taliban militants have made a violent comeback after a U.S.-led coalition topped them from power in late 2001. The U.S. expects 68,000 troops here by year’s end, double last year’s total but still half as many as now in Iraq.
The Taliban claim about holding a captured U.S. soldier came six days after a soldier was noticed missing during a routine check of his unit June 30. His body armor and weapon were found on the base.
Two U.S. defense sources have said the soldier “just walked off” the post with three Afghans after he finished working. They had no explanation for why he left.
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