U.S. soldier, seven insurgents killed

KABUL, Afghanistan — A U.S. soldier and seven insurgents have been killed in two separate clashes in Afghanistan, coalition forces said Tuesday, in the latest spate of violence in the country.

The U.S. military also said Tuesday that two American engineer soldiers were seriously wounded in a roadside-bomb attack in eastern Khost province. The soldiers were on their way to a road project Sunday between the towns of Khost and Gardez when they were attacked, the military said.

At least 260 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.

Afghanistan is going through its bloodiest phase of violence since the ouster of the Taliban government in 2001, with most attacks occurring in the south where NATO will assume security responsibilities next week.

More than 1,700 people have been killed since the start of the year in attacks by Taliban guerrillas and U.S.-led coalition operations.

Most of the victims have been insurgents, according to Afghan and foreign commanders, but the death toll also includes civilians, aid workers, Afghan forces and more than 70 foreign troops.

Civilians are increasingly being caught up in the violence. On Tuesday, an Afghan national was killed and four others wounded when the taxi they were traveling in hit a roadside bomb north of Kabul, NATO-led forces said.

The Taliban have vowed to drive out foreign forces from Afghanistan and topple President Hamid Karzai's government.

More than 10,000 U.S.-led troops have fanned out across the south in an attempt to break the Taliban's hold on the region. The United States has 21,000 troops in Afghanistan, but with NATO bolstering its presence from 9,700 to 16,000, the U.S. is expected to withdraw several thousand.

Karzai condemned the fatal shooting on Sunday of an Afghan doctor and a driver for the international Christian relief and development organization World Vision.

The Afghan government, meanwhile, launched an urgent appeal for more than $75 million to tackle an "imminent food crisis" caused by prolonged drought, particularly in the north and northwest.

Agriculture accounts for 52 percent of the impoverished nation's gross domestic product.