Ten killed in Afghanistan violence

A bomb exploded near a taxi on a busy Kabul road today, killing two Afghans, and a US soldier and seven militants died in fighting…

A bomb exploded near a taxi on a busy Kabul road today, killing two Afghans, and a US soldier and seven militants died in fighting in the east the latest wave of violence threatening Western attempts to rebuild Afghanistan.

The U.S.-led coalition announced it had killed more than 600 Taliban rebels in the past six weeks during an operation with Afghan forces to crush insurgents in the south.

The Afghan government, meanwhile, launched an urgent appeal for more that $75 million to tackle an "imminent food crisis" caused by prolonged drought, particularly in the north and northwest.

Tuesday's bomb in Kabul the latest in a series of recent blasts that have rattled nerves in the capital killed a man and woman riding in a taxi and wounded four other people, police official Faiz Ahmad Hotaq.

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In eastern Kunar province, a US soldier was killed today in a gun battle with militants, coalition spokesman Col. Tom Collins said.

At least 258 members of the US military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the US invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.

Seven militants were killed today in eastern Paktika province during clashes with coalition soldiers. One coalition soldier was slightly wounded, a coalition statement said.

Violence has escalated sharply in Afghanistan this year as Taliban-led rebels have stepped up attacks, particularly in their former southern heartland, drawing a tough response from Afghan and foreign forces.

More than 10,000 U.S.-led troops have fanned out across the south in an attempt to break the Taliban's hold on the region, as NATO prepares to take over command of security operations there in one of the biggest and most dangerous missions in alliance history.

More than 600 suspected Taliban militants have been killed since Operation Mountain Thrust started June 10, Collins told reporters.

At least 19 coalition soldiers have also been killed in the same period, according to an Associated Press count based on coalition information.