Blast Kills Two U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan – A bomb exploded near a U.S. patrol in southern Afghanistan (search) Wednesday, killing two American soldiers and wounding another, the military said.

Elsewhere, insurgents fired rockets at two American bases, killing an Afghan civilian and wounding another, the U.S. military said.

The patrol was attacked near Deh Rawood in Uruzgan (search) province, a military spokesman said, an area where the military has clashed repeatedly with Taliban militants.

"We're sorry to say that two U.S. soldiers were killed and one U.S. soldier was injured," Maj. Mark McCann said.

A total of 110 soldiers have died since the United States attacked Afghanistan's former ruling Taliban (search) and their Al Qaeda allies in late 2001, according to U.S. government figures.

In the first of the rocket attacks, four rockets were directed at the U.S. base in Orgun, a town near the Pakistani border in southeastern Paktika province, but missed the target, a military statement said.

Shrapnel from the rockets killed one Afghan and injured another, who was taken to a larger American base in neighboring Khost province for treatment, it said. He was in stable condition.

Four more rockets were fired at the main U.S. base at Bagram, north of the capital, Kabul, the military said. All landed outside the perimeter and caused no injuries.

Taliban gunmen also killed a local Afghan security chief and two government soldiers in a Taliban stronghold, police said.

Nasim Khan, a security chief in Helmand province, and two militiamen riding with him were killed, said Rozi Khan, a police chief in nearby Uruzgan province. He blamed the attack on Taliban rebels who are active in the region.

Three years after the ouster of the hardline Islamic regime, pro-Taliban insurgents maintain resistance in southern and eastern Afghanistan, although officials of the 18,000-strong U.S.-led coalition force maintain the rebels are a diminishing force.