Afghan blast kills 2 US soldiers

Another US soldier was reported injured in the blast on Saturday in Ghazni province, part of the rising cost of American operations supposed to prevent militants from disrupting historic Afghan elections.

The wounded soldier was in stable condition at the US base the southern city of Kandahar, a brief military statement said. The dead would not be identified until next of kin were informed, it said.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the bombing about 140 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul. But the area lies in a broad belt near Pakistan where suspected Taliban-led rebels regularly clash with US and Afghan troops.

The deaths bring to about 58 the number of American soldiers killed in action in Afghanistan since US forces entered the country in 2001 to drive the Taliban from power and attack its al-Qaeda allies.