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| Five Killed in Year’s Deadliest Attack on Americans in Afghanistan | Five Killed in Year’s Deadliest Attack on Americans in Afghanistan |
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| KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide car bomb in southern Afghanistan killed three American soldiers and two American civilians, including a State Department Foreign Service officer, on Saturday, the deadliest single attack against United States forces this year, officials said. | KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide car bomb in southern Afghanistan killed three American soldiers and two American civilians, including a State Department Foreign Service officer, on Saturday, the deadliest single attack against United States forces this year, officials said. |
| The violence came as Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan. Attacks are picking up in what is known as the country’s fighting season as the weather gets warmer. And the Taliban are expected to intensify their efforts to destabilize the Afghan security forces as the NATO troops who have secured the country for the last decade start packing up for their departure at the end of 2014. | The violence came as Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made an unannounced visit to Afghanistan. Attacks are picking up in what is known as the country’s fighting season as the weather gets warmer. And the Taliban are expected to intensify their efforts to destabilize the Afghan security forces as the NATO troops who have secured the country for the last decade start packing up for their departure at the end of 2014. |
| The suicide bomber detonated his vehicle on a road in Zabul Province around 11 a.m. as an American convoy passed by, according to American and Afghan officials. The convoy was accompanying the provincial governor, Mohammad Ashraf Nasery, on a trip to inaugurate a new school in Qalat, the provincial capital, where they were to delivering donated books. | |
| Four other State Department employees were wounded in the blast, one critically. Three Afghans were also killed, including a doctor accompanying the governor and two of Mr. Nasery’s bodyguards, said Muhammad Jan Rasoolyar, the deputy governor. | |
| The United States government did not immediately identify the victims, but they included a Department of Defense employee, service members and the Foreign Service officer. | |
| Secretary of State John Kerry, who was traveling to Istanbul on Saturday, said that he had met the State Department officer during his visit late last month to Kabul. She had been assigned to provide him logistical support during his trip. | |
| “She was everything a Foreign Service officer should be: smart, capable, eager to serve and deeply committed to our country and the difference she was making for the Afghan people,” Mr. Kerry said in a statement in strikingly personal terms, calling the officer’s death an “immeasurable loss.” | |
| Mr. Kerry said in the statement that he had spoken to the woman’s parents. “As a father of two daughters,” he said, “I can’t imagine what her family is feeling today, or her friends and colleagues.” | |
| In a separate attack, an American civilian was killed in an insurgent strike in the east of the country, bringing Saturday’s American death toll to six. So far this year, 30 coalition troops have died in Afghanistan, 24 of them Americans, according to Icasualties, a Web site that tracks military fatalities. | In a separate attack, an American civilian was killed in an insurgent strike in the east of the country, bringing Saturday’s American death toll to six. So far this year, 30 coalition troops have died in Afghanistan, 24 of them Americans, according to Icasualties, a Web site that tracks military fatalities. |
| The attacks came on the heels of a major Taliban assault in Farah Province last week that killed at least 44 people. In that strike, insurgents stormed a government compound, setting off a seven-hour gun battle that wounded more than 100 people. That attack highlighted the deteriorating security situation in Farah, a restive province that borders Iran to the west. | The attacks came on the heels of a major Taliban assault in Farah Province last week that killed at least 44 people. In that strike, insurgents stormed a government compound, setting off a seven-hour gun battle that wounded more than 100 people. That attack highlighted the deteriorating security situation in Farah, a restive province that borders Iran to the west. |
| The Taliban claimed responsibility for Saturday’s blast, which occurred near a coalition base. It was unclear whether the attack was aimed at the coalition forces or the governor, who survived. The bombing was the deadliest for Americans since July, when a bomb in Wardak Province killed six United States service members, American officials said. | |
Steven Lee Myers contributed reporting from Washington, and Taimoor Shah from Kandahar, Afghanistan. | Steven Lee Myers contributed reporting from Washington, and Taimoor Shah from Kandahar, Afghanistan. |