Saturday, July 04, 2009 KHOST: Two US soldiers were killed in an explosion in eastern Afghanistan Saturday, the US military said,as Afghan authorities reported that 32 rebels died in an ensuing US helicopter attack. "There was an incident with a possible IED (improvises explosive device) in Paktika province this morning in which two US service members were killed," Sergeant Charles March, a military spokesman said. The military spokesman could not give further details but Hamidullah Zhwak, a spokesman for the local administration, said the US casualties occurred when a fuel tanker was exploded by the rebels in front of a government building."After the blast the American helicopters came in and attacked the Taliban who were preparing to attack the district headquarters," he said, referring to the Zirok district where the incident took place.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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