Afghan blast kills 6 US troops

Updated at 8:30 p.m. ET: KABUL, Afghanistan – Six U.S. soldiers were killed in a bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials confirmed to NBC News, on a day where a total of 29 people died from roadside bombs and insurgent attacks.

The identities soldiers were withheld pending notification of next of kin, NBC News chief Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski reported.


The deaths take the number of NATO troops killed in the last two days to eight, one of the deadliest periods of violence for foreign troops in weeks.   

In addition to the six NATO deaths, bombs and attacks killed 16 Afghan civilians, five policemen and two members of the U.S.-led coalition in southern Afghanistan, Afghan and NATO authorities said Sunday.   

The civilians, including women and children, were killed in three blasts in Arghistan district, along Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan.

Kandahar province spokesman Ahmad Jawed Faisal said one bomb exploded when a minivan ran over it Sunday morning. A second went off when other civilians riding a tractor arrived to help the wounded. A third explosion occurred about two hours later when a civilian vehicle hit a roadside bomb in another area of the district, killing two women.   

At least 10 civilians were injured in the three blasts.

On the same day, major donors in Tokyo pledged $16 billion in development aid for Afghanistan over the next four years as they try to prevent it from sliding back into chaos once most foreign troops have left by the end of 2014.

NBC News’ Jim Miklaszewski, the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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