Re: Dead, Wounded & 1 Missing in Afghanistan

Date: January 29, 2004

"Afghan Weapons Cache Blast Kills 7 GIs

Jan 29, 2:59 PM (ET)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Seven U.S. soldiers were killed and three injured in an explosion Thursday, U.S. Central Command said. One American soldier was missing.

An Afghan interpreter also was injured in the 3 p.m. explosion near the city of Ghazni, 60 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul. The soldiers had been working around a weapons cache when the blast happened, Centcom said in a statement.

The wounded soldiers were evacuated to a hospital at Bagram Air Base, headquarters for U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan. Names were being withheld pending notification of relatives.

Earlier this month, the U.S. death toll in the two-year war in Afghanistan reached 100.

Only 16 Americans died in the lightning war that drove the Taliban from power at the end of 2001 for providing a refuge and base for Osama bin Laden, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11, attacks. The rest of the Americans died after the Taliban's defeat.

The total number includes deaths in other parts of Operation Enduring Freedom, such as a helicopter crash in the Philippines nearly two years ago that killed 10 American soldiers.

In November, five U.S. soldiers died in a helicopter crash near the main U.S. base at Bagram, north of Kabul, apparently due to mechanical failure.

The United States provides 9,000 of the 11,000-member coalition troops stationed in Afghanistan.

©2003 Associated Press"