Suicide bomb wounds 6 US soldiers in Afghan hospital

KABUL, Feb 20 (Reuters) An Afghan suicide bomber disguised as a doctor blew himself up at a hospital in southern Afghanistan today, wounding six Americans.

Khost Governor Arsala Jamal told Reuters that US soldiers opened fire on the man who was acting suspiciously as he and US officers attended a function in the hospital.

The Taliban have warned they will dramatically step up suicide attacks this year after suffering heavy losses in conventional pitched battles in 2006.

The guerrillas claimed responsibility for the hospital attack and for the killing of a U.S. soldier in fighting yesterday in the eastern province of Kunar, bordering Pakistan.

He was the tenth U.S. soldier to die this month. Eight died in a helicopter crash on Sunday and so far 12 foreign soldiers have died this year.

NATO troops killed an Afghan civilian who drove through an Afghan army checkpoint and ignored warning shots at a NATO checkpoint near the site of the helicopter crash yesterday, the alliance said in a statement.

US forces also bombed Taliban fighters sheltering in a cave after a clash with foreign forces today in southern Uruzgan province, the US-led coalition said in a statement.

A single 2,000-pound bomb was dropped, sealing the cave.

After several months of a lull in fighting due to the hrsh Afghan winter, the Taliban have resumed attacks against government forces and Western troops in the south and east.

More than 4,000 people, a quarter of them civilians, were killed in violence in Afghanistan last year, the bloodiest period since a US-led coalition overthrew the Taliban in 2001.

The Taliban say they are gearing up for a spring offensive while the coalition and NATO troops are readying for their own offensive in what analysts say will be a crunch year in the war to quell a strengthening insurgency.

REUTERS MS RK2050