JALALABAD, Afghanistan (AFP) — A suicide attack targeting a US-led coalition convoy in eastern Afghanistan Thursday killed an American soldier and ten Afghan civilians, wounding 55 others, officials said.
"One American soldier was wounded in the bombing and he died during transportation," said Major John Redfield, a spokesman for the coalition.
Afghan authorities said at least ten Afghan civilians were killed, nine of them at the scene of the blast and another 55 were taken to two hospitals.
"At least nine civilians are killed here on the spot," Khaibar Mohmand, the governor of Batikot district, in Nangarhar province, told AFP.
A 13-year-old child died in hospital, provincial health director Ajmal Pardais told AFP.
The attacker detonated an explosives-laden vehicle close to the convoy on the road between the town of Torkham, on the Pakistani border, and the provincial capital city of Jalalabad, Mohmand said.
The incident took place near a wholesale fresh fruit market and an animal market in an area often packed with people.
"We have admitted at least 40 civilians wounded in our public health hospital in Jalalabad and a dead child. Fifteen others wounded were taken to a district hospital," Pardais said.
Mohmand said the number of casualties could rise.
No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing but almost all attacks against Afghan and foreign forces are claimed by the Taliban insurgents who were ousted from power in late 2001.
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