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Blast Kills One Afghan Soldier
Wednesday, July 31, 2002
(7:16 AM ET)
The Associated Press

PESHAWAR, Pakistan
A pre-dawn explosion in an Afghan province bordering Pakistan killed one Afghan soldier and injured five others, a regional police official said Wednesday.

The cause of the explosion in the Sarkano region of Kunar province, about 5 miles from the Pakistani border, was not immediately known, Sabrar Lal, a regional police inspector, said by telephone.

U.S. forces have mounted repeated operations in the province to search for remnants of al-Qaida and the Taliban, as well as for Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of the most notorious warlords of Afghanistan's civil war. He is believed to be trying to re-establish himself in Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban regime last December.

It was not immediately known whether any U.S. forces were with the Afghan soldiers when the blast occurred.
(New Jersey Online News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

Dan