Taliban Attack Kills 6 U.S. Soldiers

In this Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009 file photo, U.S. Army soldiers stand with Afghan policemen before a joint patrol of Qalanderkhail, outside of Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan. On Monday December 21, a suicide bomber killed six U.S. troops in an attack on a joint Afghan-NATO foot patrol on Monday. An attacker on a motorcycle rammed a group of troops as they patrolled a village near Bagram Airfield. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo, File)

A U.S. military official said six American soldiers were killed Monday in a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan.

The official said that two other U.S. soldiers were injured. The official asked not be named.

The attack occurred near the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan. It is the biggest U.S. military facility in Afghanistan.

The Taliban took credit for the deadly attack.

A Taliban statement sent to journalists said a suicide bomber riding a motorbike carried out the attack.

Monday’s attack comes almost two weeks after a group of heavily armed Taliban suicide bombers hit a southern Kandahar air base. That base also houses U.S. soldiers.

In August near Kabul, three attacks within 24 hours left at least 35 people dead. One of the attacks, on a U.S. special operations forces base, killed one U.S soldier and eight Afghan civilian contractors. Another killed three American contractors.

I'm Caty Weaver.

Ayaz Gul reported on this story for VOANews.com. Bruce Alpert adapted this story for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.


Words in This Story

occurv. to take place

journalistn. activity or job of collecting, writing, and editing news stories for newspapers, magazines, television, or radio

motorbiken. a motorized bike

special operations forces - n. troops given special training to handle difficult missions

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