KABUL — A packed passenger bus hit a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing 25 people aboard, as NATO announced another U.S. service member died in a rapidly rising monthly death toll.
The bus was traveling in Nimroz province on a main highway toward the capital of Kabul when it struck the explosive about 7 a.m., a provincial government spokesman said.
Another 20 people were wounded, he said.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack. “The criminals who did this are the enemies of Muslims,” he said in a statement.
Also Wednesday, officials reported three more international service members were killed — two Italians and the American. The Italians died Wednesday in a roadside bombing north of Herat, the Italian Defense Ministry said. The American was killed Tuesday in the south, NATO said. The death raised the U.S. toll for July to 59 service members.
The rising death toll comes as U.S. forces continue the search for a missing Navy sailor believed captured last week by Taliban forces when he and a colleague drove into an insurgent-held area of eastern Afghanistan. One of the sailors was killed in a firefight with militants, and the Taliban has said it seized the other.
The Navy identified the missing sailor as Petty Officer 3rd Class Jarod Newlove, a 25-year- old from the Seattle area. The Pentagon lists Newlove as “whereabouts unknown” and did not confirm he was captured.
The service member killed was Petty Officer 2nd Class Justin McNeley — a 30-year-old father of two from Wheat Ridge. NATO recovered his body Sunday.
