An explosion near an arms cache in southern Afghanistan has killed seven US soldiers.
The US military said the soldiers were killed when working near an ammunition dump in the southern province of Ghazni. Another US soldier is missing and an interpreter was injured.
The US military has a 12,000-member force in Afghanistan hunting Taliban and al-Qaeda rebels after a US-led campaign ousted the ruling Taliban in 2001.
Guerrillas are most active in the south and east of Afghanistan, although two suicide attacks in Kabul this week killed one British and one Canadian soldier, both members of a multinational force in the capital. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Yesterday, there were unconfirmed reports claiming the United States was planning a spring offensive against Taliban and al-Qaeda members on the Afghanistan/Pakistan borders.