Car bomb kills, injures 40 US-led troops in Afghanistan

Car bomb kills, injures 40 US-led troops in Afghanistan

US Army soldiers carry a wounded colleague after he was injured in an explosive device blast. (file photo)

Taliban militants claim at least 40 US-led soldiers have been killed or injured in a car bomb attack in Afghanistan's southern Helmand Province, Press TVrepots

According to Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmadi, the attack was carried out on Monday night when an explosive-laden vehicle targeted a joint US-Afghan base in the southern part of the war-torn country.

The US-led Western military alliance confirmed the incident. However, it gave no report on the exact number of casualties or the soldier's nationality, saying several soldiers have been injured.

Earlier, a dozen people, including five Afghan policemen, were killed and several others wounded in a militant attack on a police facility in Afghanistan’s eastern city of Jalalabad.

Afghan police sources said the attack was carried out during the early hours of the day, when a group of seven bombers stormed the police base in the capital city of the eastern province of Nangarhar.

The Taliban militant group also claimed responsibility for the Jalalabad attack, saying the militants targeted “foreigners and Israeli teachers” training Afghan police at the base. “There are heavy police casualties,” the group stated.

The deadly attacks come on the second day of a visit to Afghanistan by US Secretary of State John Kerry.

The increasing number of military casualties in Afghanistan has caused widespread anger in the United States and other NATO member states, undermining public support for the Afghan war.

The US-led war in Afghanistan removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity continues to rise across Afghanistan, despite the presence of thousands of US-led troops.