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Four U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan - A massive bomb exploded under a wooden bridge as a convoy of armored Humvees was crossing it Sunday, killing four U.S. soldiers and wounding three others in the deadliest assault on American forces in Afghanistan in nearly two months.

The troops were part of a major offensive against militants who have vowed to subvert legislative elections on Sept. 18 - the next step toward democracy after more than two decades of war and civil strife.

Rebels also stepped up attacks elsewhere, wounding two U.S. Embassy staffers in a roadside bombing in the capital and killing a senior progovernment cleric and a colleague in the country's south.

Though the U.S. military operation has left dozens of suspected rebels dead or captured, a number of American troops also have been killed, including 13 this month. U.S. and Afghan officials have warned violence may worsen ahead of the polls.

The bomb tied to the bottom of the small bridge exploded as the last of three Humvees was slowly crossing it, said Bashir Ahmad Khan, the government chief in Zabul province's Daychopan district.

The three wounded troops were hit by shrapnel from secondary explosions as they tried to pull the four soldiers out of the burning Humvee, the military statement said. The three were evacuated and were in stable condition.

It was the deadliest attack on U.S. forces since June 28, when 19 service members were killed in eastern Kunar province when a Navy SEAL team was ambushed and a helicopter shot down.

Some 187 U.S. service members have been killed in and around Afghanistan since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001.

In the southern Kandahar province, gunmen killed cleric Mawlawi Abdullah.

Abdullah - a senior figure in the Islamic Ulama Council - and a colleague were killed as they walked out of a mosque after praying at dawn Sunday, said Interior Ministry official Dad Mohammed Rasa.

Two roadside bombs also exploded near police convoys in the southern provinces of Zabul and Uruzgan late Saturday, each killing two officers, officials said.

[Last modified August 22, 2005, 01:08:08]