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World Landmine News Taliban Land mine Kills Nine Afghan Soldiers - Reuters
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A land mine blast killed nine Afghan soldiers near the border with Pakistan on Saturday in the bloodiest attack yet on Afghanistan (news - web sites)\'s new army.
A local army commander told Reuters an Afghan border commander was also wounded when the army vehicle hit the mine near the southern town of Spin Boldak while traveling toward the Pakistan border.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack which he said had killed four soldiers.
The U.S.-trained Afghan army was formed after the overthrow of the Taliban government in late 2001.
Some 18,000 U.S. troops are engaged in the hunt for remnants of the Taliban militia and their al Qaeda allies in Afghanistan, mostly in the Pashtun south and east of the country that provided the radical Islamist movement with the backbone of its support.
The Taliban have vowed to fight on till they expel foreign troops from Afghanistan and defeat Afghan government forces.
U.S-led troops toppled the Taliban government after it refused to hand over al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities.