KABUL - Homemade bombs killed three U.S. troops in southern and eastern Afghanistan on Friday, and a roadside blast tore through a crowded market in the increasingly volatile north, killing three policemen and two civilians.
No other details about the attacks on the U.S. troops were given by NATO, and the identities of those killed were not released.
A total of 55 foreign troops have been killed in Afghanistan this month, including 35 Americans, according to a count by The Associated Press. July was the deadliest month for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, with 66 killed.
U.S. troops make up about 100,000 of the 120,000-strong foreign military contingent in Af-ghanistan, most in the south and east where the Taliban is most deeply entrenched.
Meanwhile, a police official said three Afghan policemen and two civilians were killed and 15 civilians wounded in Thursday evening's bombing in Kunduz province's Archi town. The blast went off as residents shopped for food in anticipation of breaking the dawn-to-dusk fast observed during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
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There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but deputy provincial police chief Abdul Rahman Aqtash said civilians appeared to be the target.
"This was a cruel act of the enemy. There was nothing to link these people to the coalition or to politics," Aqtash said.
Kunduz, 150 miles north of the capital, Kabul, has not been a Taliban stronghold. But insurgents have steadily built their presence there since 2007, mostly among ethnic Pashtuns who are a minority in the area.
Attacks on a key coalition supply line running south from Tajikistan are a constant menace, along with ambushes of German forces who help provide security.
In establishing a northern foothold, authorities believe the Taliban use veterans from southern battles to help organize local groups, sometimes with help from the al-Qaida-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, which provides recruits from the Uzbek minority.
"The situation is very bad and dangerous in Kunduz, but unfortunately the security officials keep saying things are all right," Mabu-bullah Mabub, head of the Kunduz provincial council, told the AP Thursday.
Farther east in Badakh-shan province, Afghan army commandos aided by U.S. special operations forces discovered a major weapons cache in the remote village of Nawci on Wednesday, NATO reported. It said weapons found included 78 rockets with launchers, 47 mortar rounds, more than 9,000 rounds of ammunition and 24 rocket-propelled grenades.
The town is believed to be a haven for Taliban fighters and drug smugglers, as well as a conduit for foreign fighters arriving from Pakistan, NATO said.
Meanwhile, Afghan, French and U.S. troops wrapped up a weeklong offensive against insurgents in the Uzbeen valley northeast of Kabul, NATO said.
Backed by air power, the combined force killed about 40 Taliban fighters and captured several key Taliban operatives, it said.
Another three insurgents were killed and three detained in eastern Paktiya province by Afghan and coalition forces pursuing a Taliban subcommander - part of an expanding number of operations targeting the insurgents' leadership.
US Toll in Afghanistan
1,140
Deaths
7,643
Wounded
SOURCE: Department of Defense
