8 Americans, 5 Canadians die in Afghanistan blasts

KABUL (AP) — A suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest at a military base in eastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing eight American civilians, U.S. officials said.

Also Wednesday, four soldiers and one journalist from Canada were killed in an explosion Wednesday in Kandahar province, one of the most dangerous areas of southern Afghanistan, NATO said.

U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly confirmed that eight Americans died in the attack.

“We mourn the loss of life in this attack, and are withholding further details pending notification of next of kin,” he said.

A senior State Department official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity that all of the victims are civilians. However, that could include military contractors and U.S. intelligence officials.

In Kabul, a spokesman for the international coalition force in Kabul said no U.S. or NATO troops were killed in the afternoon explosion at Chapman, one of dozens of forward operating bases that support reconstruction efforts and other civilian operations across the nation.

An attacker wearing a suicide vest caused the explosion, according to a senior U.S. official in Washington. Another senior U.S. official in Washington said there were conflicting reports on the number of casualties, but that others were injured in the attack.

In a statement, the international coalition said the Canadian reporter was embedded with the troops when their armored vehicle hit the bomb while on an afternoon patrol south of Kandahar city.

The Canadian Press identified the journalist as Michelle Lang, a 34-year-old health reporter with the –__, who was on her first assignment to Afghanistan.

The military has not disclosed the names of the troops because relatives had not all been notified.

“The soldiers were conducting a community security patrol in order to gather information on the pattern of life and maintain security in the area,” Brig. Gen. Daniel Menard, commander of coalition forces in Kandahar, told Canadian Press early Thursday.

Kandahar is a hotbed of the insurgency. On Dec. 24, eight people, including a child, were killed when a man driving a horse-drawn cart laden with explosives detonated the cache outside a guest house frequented by foreigners.

Wednesday was the second lethal strike against the Canadian force in a week. Another Canadian troop and an Afghan soldier were killed Dec. 23 during a foot patrol in Panjwayi district of Kandahar province.

According to figures compiled by The Associated Press, the latest casualties bring to 32 the number of Canadian forces killed in Afghanistan this year; in all, 138 have died in the war.