KABUL, Afghanistan, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Six U.S. soldiers were killed and a dozen U.S. and Afghan troops were wounded in a Taliban bombing attack in southern Afghanistan Sunday, officials said.
A van with explosives blew up beside a small joint outpost, The New York Times said. The outpost was a new strong point near the village of Sangsar that only had been occupied for a few days, the newspaper said.
The van driver drove up to one of the walls and detonated the explosives, the Times reported.
An Afghan general told the Times his troops had tried to stop the van, but the driver ignored them and rammed the building with his vehicle, setting off the blast.
Other soldiers arrived on the scene and tried to rescue those trapped in the rubble.
The explosion was heard at least eight miles away and produced a mushroom cloud of dust, the Times said.
A heightened show of violence this month by Muslim extremists in the Taliban and al-Qaida has driven the NATO death toll to 22, China's Xinhua news agency said. Since January, 680 NATO troops have been killed in the U.S.-led mission that began in 2002.
Last year, 502 NATO troops were killed in the Afghan conflict, the BBC said.
