Afghan blast kills a US soldier

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A US soldier was killed yesterday by a bomb that exploded near a troop patrol in eastern Afghanistan, and President Hamid Karzai said he expected such attacks to continue ''for much more time to come."

The attack was carried out a day after suicide bombers rammed cars filled with explosives into NATO forces in two attacks in Kabul. It was the first major assault on foreign troops in Kabul in more than a year.

Yesterday, the death toll rose to nine, as police found more bodies in a ditch, and a wounded man was reported to have died.

Police said Al Qaeda was responsible for the suicide bombings. Such seemingly coordinated attacks are unprecedented in Afghanistan and reinforced fears that Osama bin Laden's terror network has teamed up with its old ally the Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Yesterday, US and Afghan troops were near Pakistan, when a bomb exploded, killing a US soldier. The blast wounded another US soldier, two Afghan soldiers and a civilian, the military said.

This year has been the deadliest for US troops in Afghanistan since the Taliban was ousted in 2001. At least 87 US military personnel have been killed or have died in accidents.

Almost 1,500 Afghan civilians, security forces, and rebels also have been killed.

Militants also fired two rockets into Kabul late yesterday, landing one about half a mile from the headquarters of NATO peacekeepers, said Lieutenant Colonel Cristoni Riccar, a spokesman for the force. No casualties were reported.

Karzai said he expects the violence to continue.

''Terrorism will remain to affect us, will remain to attack us, for much more time to come," Karzai told reporters while attending an Islam conference in Austria. ''What is important for us right now is to . . . strengthen democratic institutions."

The bombings on Monday appeared to have been part of a new campaign to use suicide assailants in Afghanistan.

Investigators said the attackers appeared to have been Arabs, said the police commander, General Mohammed Akbar.

''Al Qaeda is definitely behind this attack," Akbar said.