Four US soldiers were killed today when their vehicle struck a landmine in southeast Afghanistan.
The United States has lost over 100 military personnel since deploying troops in Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, but most of the deaths have been accidents. The latest marked the worst loss of life in a single day for the United States in Afghanistan since three US military personnel and three US civilians were killed in a plane crash in late November.
There has been little militant activity over the winter, and the US military says the insurgents are disorganised, but a pick-up in attacks is expected with the onset of spring, and there have been several incidents in the past few days.
Lieutenant Cindy Moore said it was uncertain whether the mine that killed the four soldiers had been planted recently or was old. The soldiers had been travelling with Afghan troops in a three-vehicle patrol in Logar province, south of Kabul.
Last week, a US soldier was killed and four others were wounded when their vehicle struck a mine in the western province of Herat, and five Afghan civilians died when their truck hit a mine near the same spot just hours later.
Mines and unexploded ordnance still litter Afghanistan from two decades of conflict going back to the 1979 Soviet invasion. The UN security officials issued a warning this month to beware of mines, as the spring thaw and recent heavy rains can cause "mine migration" due to soil movement.