Bomb in Afghanistan Kills Five

By Debbie Gregory.

Saturday was one of the deadliest days for Americans and other foreign troops in Afghanistan in recent months, as the Taliban continued their attacks, part of their spring offensive. In the second deadly attack since the insurgency announced their new offensive on April 27^th, five U.S. soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb on May 4th. All five Americans were serving as part of the NATO forces.

The deaths come after three British troops were killed by a roadside bomb this week in southern Helmand province. With these deaths, 47 members of the coalition have been killed so far this year — including 37 Americans.

Although the exact location of the blast was not revealed, Javeed Faisal, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province, said the coalition patrol hit the roadside bomb in Maiwand district of the province, which is considered to be the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban. Maiwand borders Helmand province to the west, and is considered one of the most volatile of Kandahar’s districts. The US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) released a statement saying simply Saturday’s bomb was an “improvised explosive”. Currently, there are just over 100,000 soldiers are still serving with ISAF; they are due to be withdrawn by the end of 2014.

The renewed violence came as Afghan President Hamid Karzai acknowledged that his government has been receiving funds from CIA “for more than a decade” as part of regular monthly assistance from the U.S. government. Karzai said the payments were “government-to-government” assistance.  Without disclosing how much the CIA gave to the National Directorate of Security (NDS), which is the Afghan intelligence service, Karzai said the financial aid was used to care for wounded employees of the NDS, and operational expenses.

We at MilitaryConnection.com would like to express our sincere condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives. We appreciate the sacrifices made by those who serve, and we know that their families sacrifice as well.