Afghan officials say the casualties were caused Friday by an explosive device planted on a road in rural Kunar province. The device went off as the soldiers were driving by.

Kunar Governor Sayed Fazl Akbar says the blast is the work of militants loyal to Afghanistan's former hard-line Taleban regime.

He tells VOA that local attacks by Taleban militants are normally limited to small-scale hit-and-run assaults, usually carried out under cover of darkness.

"Three, four men can do this in the nighttime, one o'clock or two o'clock, (go) close to a district and just shoot some fire and run back . like a bunch of thieves," he explained.