Three US troops killed in Afghan suicide blast

By Cheryll Simpson, NBC News in Kabul

KHOST, Afghanistan -- Three U.S. service members, their Afghan interpreter and 17 Afghan civilians were killed by an apparent suicide bomber on a motorbike in the?eastern Afghan city of Khost Wednesday, officials said.

The United States Embassy in Afghanistan issued a statement saying it "strongly condemns this cowardly attack," which is the?second on foreign forces in the troubled province this month.?

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A U.S. official, speaking anonymously to The Associated Press, said the foreign troops killed were Americans.

However, a?spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said the nationality of the troops would not immediately be confirmed.

A local official told NBC News that women and children were among the civilian casualties in the attack, aimed at an American-Afghan military convoy passing through the town.

The official said the death toll was likely to rise, and that?32 Afghans suffered injuries.

Msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

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