Violence On The Anniversary Of An Invasion

A suicide car bomber attacked an American military convoy on the road to Kabul's airport on Saturday, killing a U.S. soldier and four Afghan civilians, officials said.

The bombing - on the sixth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan - threw several vehicles on their side. Four Afghans were killed and several others wounded, the Interior Ministry said.

The attack was against U.S. troops responsible for training the Afghan military and police. Lt. Col. David Johnson, a U.S. spokesman, said one American soldier died in the blast and one was wounded.

Dozens of shops were damaged.

"There was an enormous explosion, the windows of my shop shattered," said tailor Mohammad Isaq. "When I came out I saw the foreigners' vehicles on fire. I saw two injured Afghans and I ran to help them."

This year has been the most violent of the six-year effort, the result of the U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban for hosting al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S.

More than 5,100 people have died in insurgency-related violence in 2007, according to an Associated Press count based on Afghan and Western officials.

The suicide bombing was the third major attack in Kabul in a week. On Sept. 29, a bomber targeted an Afghan army bus, killing 30 people. A similar attack Tuesday against a police bus killed 13.

Saturday's attack occurred on a tree-lined, four-lane road that leads from the U.S. Embassy to the airport - a route frequently traveled by foreign convoys.

U.S. military Humvees arrived at the scene shortly after the bombing to secure the site and take away U.S. casualties. British troops arrived soon after that.

On Friday, meanwhile, U.S.-led coalition and Afghan troops clashed with insurgents during a raid in eastern Afghanistan, and civilians as well as militants were killed. In the country's volatile south, separate explosions apparently targeting NATO forces killed two children and a British soldier.

The joint force came under attack during a raid on compounds suspected of housing militants in Waza Khwa district, in Paktika province. In the ensuing battle, several Taliban fighters, but also civilians - including a woman and a child - were killed, a coalition statement said.

The military said it would investigate the deaths, while blaming militants for using civilians as cover. Initially, the coalition had said there were no civilians killed and wounded in the clash, one of the latest in soaring violence in the country.

It was not immediately clear exactly how many people were killed.

In the restive south, a suicide bomber approaching NATO and Afghan forces blew himself up prematurely in Helmand province's Sangin district on Friday, killing two children, said district police chief Wali Mohammad.

Violence in Afghanistan has reached new highs this year, with nearly 5,100 people killed in suicide bombings, gun battles, airstrikes, and roadside bombs around the country through the first nine months of the year, according to an Associated Press count based on figures from Afghan, U.S. and NATO officials.