Two separate landmine blasts in western Afghanistan killed a US soldier and at least five civilians, a day before US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was due to visit. The explosions were both near the major US base at Shindand, an old Russian airport littered with landmines from the previous 25 years of war, although officials did not rule out the possibility that militants planted the devices.Four other US soldiers from a military police unit were also wounded in the first blast early Wednesday and six Afghan civilians were hurt when the second explosion tore through a minibus hours later, officials said Wednesday. One US soldier sustained a severe back injury, one is currently in stable condition and two were treated and returned to duty, a US military statement said. US military spokesman Major Steve Wollman told AFP that both explosions went off in quick succession early on Wednesday although an earlier statement said the first blast had occurred Tuesday. "We are still trying to determine whether it was an old mine or one that was recently placed," Wollman said, referring to the blast that killed the soldier. Three US soldiers have now been killed in Afghanistan this year, with the previous two dying in combat. At least 29 US soldiers were killed in combat in the war-torn country in 2004.
The Afghan victims were travelling in a minibus when the landmine detonated near Shindand airfield, Mohammadullah Afzali, spokesman for the provincial governor of Herat told AFP. "Five Afghans were killed and six others wounded. Coalition forces evacuated three wounded to a coalition base in Kandahar," Wollman said, adding that the others were taken to a local hospital. Shindand is located near the Iranian border, some 120 kilometers (74 miles) south of the main western city of Herat. Afzali did not rule out the possibility that the blast was the result of a recently laid mine. "It could have been planted by the enemies of Afghanistan," he added.