3 U.S. service members, one Afghan killed in Afghanistan

The deaths came on the same day that two American soldiers were killed in the south.

Four other Afghan soldiers were wounded in Thursday's clash in Kunar province in eastern Afghanistan. The forces were conducting operations ahead of next month's legislative elections, which Taliban militants have vowed to disrupt.

The wounded Afghan National Army soldiers were taken to a U.S. base in the city of Asadabad for treatment, the statement said. Two later returned to duty, one was shifted to the main U.S. base at Bagram, and the other would be transferred to an Afghan military clinic in the capital Kabul, it said.

Also Thursday, two U.S. soldiers were killed when a homemade bomb hit an American convoy supporting crews improving a road from the main southern city of Kandahar to outlying mountains. Two other soldiers were wounded, the military said in a statement.

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KABUL, Afghanistan — A reinvigorated insurgency killed two U.S. soldiers yesterday when a roadside bomb hit a military convoy protecting road workers, and the new American ambassador warned that violence by Afghan rebels would not end soon.

But the envoy, Ronald Neumann, played down fears the Taliban-led militants could prevent next month's legislative elections. "When millions of people want to go vote, they will go vote," he said at his first news conference after arriving in Kabul.

A surge of violence since winter has killed about 1,000 people — 59 American soldiers among them. Militants have stepped up assaults in the south and east trying to sabotage the U.S.-backed recovery, while U.S. and Afghan troops answer with their own offensives.

Yesterday, a homemade bomb hit a convoy of U.S. troops supporting crews repairing a road from the main southern city of Kandahar to outlying mountains. Two soldiers in an armored vehicle were killed and two were wounded, the military said.

The recent loss of life has dampened some of the optimism that prevailed after Afghanistan's inaugural presidential election passed off peacefully last fall and insurgent attacks dropped off during the winter.

Part of the effort to safeguard the vote has been an aggressive campaign by Afghan and coalition forces to go after militants in the south and east.

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