Blast near US convoy kills Afghan, wounds scores

By Amin Jalili

ASADABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - A blast near a stalled U.S. troop convoy in eastern Afghanistan killed one child and wounded scores of civilians and three U.S. soldiers on Tuesday, Afghan officials and the U.S. military said.

Some witnesses and the Afghan Education Ministry initially blamed a U.S. soldier for throwing a grenade into a crowd, but the U.S. military said the grenade was Russian-made and had been thrown by an insurgent.

Asadabad hospital doctor Ehsanullah Fazli said most of the wounded were children. Some were in critical condition, he said.

The military said in a statement that up to 54 Afghan civilians had been wounded in the incident in Asadabad, capital of Kunar province in the east. It issued photos of what it said was a grenade fragment with Russian serial numbers.

"The grenade was definitely not thrown by a U.S. service member," U.S. military spokeswoman Captain Elizabeth Matthias said. She said a convoy of U.S. troops had stopped when one of their armoured vehicles became stuck.

The convoy took ground fire before the grenade was thrown at them, she said.

Still, many Afghans were quick to blame the Americans. The Afghan Education Ministry said in a statement that U.S. forces based in Asadabad had thrown the grenade and that one student was killed and another 15 children were wounded.