Afghan bus hits roadside bomb; 25 die

— A packed bus hit a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing 25 people aboard, as NATO announced another U.S. serviceman died in a rapidly rising monthly death toll.

The passenger bus was traveling in Nimroz province on a main highway toward the capital, Kabul, when it struck the explosive about 7 a.m., said Nazir Ahmad, a provincial government spokesman. Another 20 people were wounded, he said.

The explosion occurred near Delaram, a volatile area close to the borders of Helmand and Farah provinces.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack. “The criminals who did this are the enemies of Muslims,” he said in a statement.

Also Wednesday, officials reported that three more international servicemen were killed: two Italians and an American. The Italians died Wednesday in a roadside bombing north of Herat, the Italian Defense Ministry said.The American was killed Tuesday in the south, NATO said.

July has been one of the deadliest months for U.S. troops in the nearly nine-year Afghan war, with 59 service members killed so far. That’s just shy of the 60 who died in June - the deadliest month for U.S. forces. Altogether, 82 NATO troops have died in July. In June, 103 NATO forces were killed.

The rising death toll comes as U.S. forces continue the search for a missing Navy sailor believed captured last week by Taliban forces after he and a colleague drove into an insurgent-held area of eastern Afghanistan. One of the sailors was killed in a firefight with militants, and the Taliban have said they seized the other.

NATO officials couldn’t say what the two servicemen were doing in such a dangerous part of eastern Afghanistan.

The Navy identified the missing sailor as Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, a 25-year-old from the Seattle area. The Pentagon lists Newlove as “whereabouts unknown,” and did not confirm that he was captured.

The serviceman killed was Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley, a 30-year-old father of two from Wheat Ridge, Colo. NATO recovered his body Sunday.

The sailors were instructors at a counterinsurgency school for Afghan security forces, according to senior military officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case. The school had headquarters in Kabul and had classrooms outside the capital, but they were never assigned anywhere near where the body of the sailor was recovered, the officials said.

U.S. forces have pushed into southern Taliban strongholds in recent months and weeks to squeeze insurgents out of the area where they have long functioned as a government. Along with the surge, attacks on military forces and Afghan supporters of the government have increased. Many civilians have also been killed or wounded in violence such as Wednesday’s bus bomb or caught up in the crossfire.

On Wednesday, an Afghan villager was killed by U.S. soldiers in Arghandab Valley, a strategic area near Kandahar City. An Associated Press journalist who witnessed the shooting said soldiers approached a compound near where they had found a hidden bomb. Someone fired at the Americans, who shot back, killing a man who the troops said was carrying a rifle.

The villagers insisted that he wasn’t Taliban and maintained that they didn’t hear gunfire, although the AP journalist said bullets were flying near the troops.

In central Uruzgan province, meanwhile, three Afghan soldiers were killed when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb Wednesday, said Gulab Khan, deputy provincial police chief.

German Army Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz said Wednesday in Kabul that the Taliban’s senior leadership ordered the assassination of multiple tribal elders in an area of Uruzgan.

“This follows the kidnapping and execution of two tribal elders for cooperating with the coalition,” he said, alleging recent attacks can be traced to instructions issued by Taliban leader Mullah Omar in June to attack anyone who supports the Afghan government.

During the past 90 days, 350 Taliban figures have been captured or killed by coalition forces, Blotz said.

Meanwhile, a NATO drone went down in a Taliban-held area of northern Afghanistan because of mechanical problems, the alliance said in a statement. The craft, called a Luna UAV, contained no weapons or intelligence that could be exploited by enemy forces, NATO said.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 07/29/2010

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