Roadside bomb kills U.S. soldier

A roadside bomb exploded in Kandahar province Saturday night, killing a U.S. soldier, seven Afghan police officers and an Afghan translator, local officials said.

The blast occurred while Afghan security personnel and U.S.-led coalition forces were about to defuse an improvised explosive device at Kohak village in Arghandab district.

The International Security Assistance Force, the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, said Sunday that one of its soldiers had been killed in the attack in southern Afghanistan, but it would not provide further details.

Meanwhile, media reports in Afghanistan claimed that Dushanbe, the capital of neighboring Tajikistan, was rocked by an explosion Sunday. Dushanbe is hosting a conference this week on economic cooperation for Afghanistan. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, and there was no confirmation that the bombing was linked to the conference.