Bomb kills 6 U.S. troops in Afghanistan

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KABUL, Afghanistan, July 8 (UPI) -- An improvised explosive device blast killed six U.S. soldiers in eastern Afghanistan in a weekend of deadly attacks in that country, a U.S. official told CNN.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force had earlier reported the deaths but had not disclosed the victims' nationalities. CNN reported quoted a U.S. official as saying later that they were U.S. soldiers serving with NATO.

Other details about the incident were not immediately available.

The victims were among eight NATO troops killed during the weekend even as delegates met in Tokyo to discuss Afghanistan's future, which would include about $16 billion in international aid to that country in the next four years, CNN reported.

In other weekend developments in Afghanistan, at least 26 people died in various roadside bombings. Among them were 14 people, including women and children, who died when an explosion struck their truck in southern Afghanistan.

"This is the act of the enemy of our people who are restlessly trying to kill our innocent people," a police official told CNN.

Militant violence continues to escalate in Afghanistan as U.S. and NATO forces plan to complete withdrawal of their troops by 2014.

Under the plans, combat operations would be handed over to Afghan forces with only training experts remaining after the foreign troops leave.

The United States and Afghanistan will maintain a strategic partnership after 2014.