KABUL, Afghanistan — A truck bomb that wounded 77 US soldiers and killed five Afghans — including a 3-year-old girl — served yesterday as a reminder that, 10 years after 9/11, nearly 100,000 US troops are still fighting a war that shows no sign of slowing down.
The truck, filled with firewood, exploded Saturday night outside Combat Outpost Sayed Abad in Wardak province. Four of those killed were civilians. The provincial governor said the blast was so powerful that it damaged about 100 shops in a nearby bazaar .
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The Taliban — which had earlier issued a statement vowing to fight until all foreign troops have left — claimed responsibility.
“The Afghans have an endless stamina for a long war,” they said. “Through a countrywide uprising, the Afghans will send the Americans to the dustbin of history, as they sent other empires.”
Sayed Abad is seven miles east of where the Taliban, on Aug. 6, shot down a helicopter, killing 30 Americans, including many members of Navy SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed Osama bin Laden in May.