Four U.S. service members wounded in Afghanistan

An explosion hit a military vehicle in Afghanistan on Friday, wounding four U.S. service members, the U.S. military said.

The blast from an improvised explosive device hit the Americans' heavily armored vehicle as they were returning after defusing another bomb in the violence-plagued eastern Kunar province, according to a statement from the U.S. base in Bagram, north of the capital Kabul.

All four were evacuated to Bagram and were in stable condition, it said. U.S. forces were trying to capture or kill the attackers, the AP says.

More than 1,200 people have been killed in the past six months in the worst insurgent violence since U.S.-led forces ousted the hard-line Taliban from power in 2001, when they refused to hand over al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Some of the deadliest attacks on U.S. forces in recent months have occurred in Kunar, on the Pakistani border.

T.E.