4 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — Four American soldiers were killed in eastern Afghanistan in a roadside explosion on Sunday, the United States military said, in the worst of several attacks by insurgents around the country.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, a spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said.

The Taliban have been threatening to increase attacks on foreign and Afghan forces in Afghanistan to counter the increase in American troops arriving in the country over the coming months. Military officials have been predicting an increase in violence this year.

In a separate attack on Sunday, a suicide bomber blew himself up on a main road south of Kabul, killing two Afghan civilians and wounding nine others. The bomber was standing outside a high school and may have been planning to attack members of an Afghan intelligence security force that passed by just minutes later, said Gen. Sayed Abdul Ghafar, the head of police criminal investigations in Kabul.

The wounded were shopkeepers working in nearby stores and people in passing cars, bystanders said. “It was 12 o’clock, I was washing my hands to get ready for lunch and suddenly I heard a loud explosion followed by smoke and dust,” said a 21-year-old shopkeeper, Hejratullah. “When the smoke cleared, I saw my father, my brother and my uncle were lying on the ground and blood was pouring from their bodies.”

“I saw lots of people in the cars wounded and shouting for help but there was no one to help,” said Mohammad Haroon, a mechanic whose neighbor was wounded.

An explosion in the southern city of Kandahar narrowly missed the mayor, Ghulam Haider Hamedi, as he arrived for work Sunday morning. One passer-by was killed and six others were wounded when a remote-controlled bomb placed on a wheelbarrow beside the gate to his office exploded.

Mr. Hamedi’s car was badly damaged, but he was unhurt. He said enemies of Afghanistan were to blame for the attack. “They do not want progress or stability in Afghanistan,” he said.

Sangar Rahimi reported from Kabul, and Carlotta Gall from Islamabad, Pakistan. Taimoor Shah contributed reporting from Kandahar, Afghanistan.