Five American soldiers killed by roadside bomb in Afghanistan

Five American members of the US-led international military coalition were killed on Saturday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.
The incident is the latest deadly attack against foreign troops since the Taliban announced the start of their spring offensive this week.
In a statement, NATO said the five US troops were killed on Saturday by an improvised explosive devise (IED).

Dangerous: Five Americans were killed Saturday in Afghanistan's Maiwand district

Javeed Faisal, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province, said a coalition patrol hit the roadside bomb in Maiwand district of the province, the spiritual birthplace of the Taliban.
Maiwand district is considered one of the most dangerous in Afghanistan.

With the deaths, 47 members of the coalition have been killed so far this year.
Nineteen U.S. service personnel have been killed in the last week in three air crashes and Saturday's bombing.
Three British soldiers were killed on April 30 when their armored vehicle hit a bomb in southern Helmand province.

Hot bed: Soldiers stationed in the Maiwand district circa March 2010. Three British soldiers were also killed in nearby Helmand province April 30

The renewed violence came as Afghan president Hamid Karzai acknowledged that his government has been receiving funds from CIA for more than a decade as part of regular monthly assistance from the US government.
Mr Karzai told reporters at a news conference that the CIA's station chief in Kabul has assured him that regular funding the US intelligence agency gives his government will not be cut off.
He had earlier confirmed that his government had received such payments following a story published in The New York Times that said the CIA had given the Afghan National Security Council tens of millions of dollars in monthly payments delivered in suitcases, backpacks and plastic shopping bags.
'The help and assistance from the US is for our National Directorate of Security. That is state-to-state, government-to-government regular assistance,' Mr Karzai said.

Birthplace: An Afghani officer stands guard in Maiwand. The region is often called the Taliban's 'spiritual birthplace'

'So, that is a government institution helping another government institution, and we appreciate all this assistance and help, all this assistance is very useful for us. We have spent it in different areas (and) solved lots of our problems.'
Mr Karzai would not say how much assistance his government had received because it was being used for intelligence work, but acknowledged it was in cash and that 'all the money which we have spent, receipts have been sent back to the intelligence service of the United States monthly'.
He claimed that much of the money was used to care for wounded employees of the NDS, Afghanistan's intelligence service, and operational expenses.
'It is an official government deal between the two governments. This is happening all over the world - such deals between governments - and in Afghanistan, which is a needy country, these sorts of deals are very important and useful,' he said.

Renewed: A child herds sheep in Maiwand. Recent U.S. deaths there come after the Taliban's announcement of a 'spring offensive'

DAILYMAIL