Suicide attack kills 21 in Afghanistan

A suicide bomber killed 21 people, including three U.S. soldiers, on Wednesday at a checkpoint in a packed market in eastern Afghanistan — the third assault targeting Americans in as many days, U.S. and Afghan officials said.

Wednesday’s attack took place in a marketplace in the city of Khost, near the Pakistani border and about 90 miles southeast of the Afghan capital, Kabul.

The assailant approached on foot through the shops and taxi stands packed with people and then detonated his explosives as he approached Afghan and U.S. soldiers at a checkpoint, said Baryalai Wakman, a spokesman for the Khost provincial government.

Three U.S. soldiers and an Afghan interpreter were killed, the U.S. Defense Department said.