Two American troops were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan. The explosion was so powerful that it tossed the armored hummer into the air. Elsewhere in the south, a three day operation against a Taliban stronghold ended with five Taliban killed and many other fleeing the area around Kandahar. 

Roadside bombs are rare in Afghanistan, mainly because there are less explosives sitting around, fewer American troops to use it against, and fewer hostile civilians for the bombers to hide among. The dead Americans were working on a road reconstruction project. The Taliban are particularly hostile to reconstruction projects, knowing that anything which improves the lives of Afghans simply reminds people how ineffective the Taliban were in that department.