A bomb detonated by Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan killed four people including two American nationals on Sunday, police said. Afghan police forces found a roadside bomb device in Nad Ali district of southern Helmand province and called the US military advisors in area to defuse it, Kamal Khan, deputy provincial police chief said.
"When the advisors and district police chief arrived at the scene, the bomb was remotely detonated, killing two US citizens, their interpreter and one Afghan policeman," Khan said.
Khan said that the district police chief was also wounded in the blast and was in coma condition in a Nato hospital in the region. US forces in Bagram, the biggest military base for the American troops in the country, said that they were aware of an explosion in the district.
"Currently details about how many individuals may have been injured or killed is unconfirmed," the military said in a statement. Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousif Ahmadi, speaking from an undisclosed location, took responsibility for the attack and claimed that the blast killed three Afghan and three American soldiers.
Southern Helmand province is one of the main hub for Taliban activities in the country. Nad Ali district has witnessed heavy clashes between the insurgents and Afghan and Nato forces in the past six months. More than 8,000 British forces are stationed as part of more than 55,000-strong Nato-led troops in Helmand province. The US has announced a plan to send up to 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan in the next 12 to 18 months, with thousands of them to be deployed to southern region, which includes Helmand district.