A MOTORCYCLE-RIDING Taliban suicide bomber killed six U.S. soldiers near Kabul, in a brazen attack as the resurgent militant group battled to seize a key southern district in Afghanistan’s opium-growing heartland.

    The bombing during a joint patrol with Afghan forces near Bagram, the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan, marks one of the deadliest attacks on foreign troops in the country this year.

    The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault, which underscores a worsening security situation a year after NATO formally ended its combat operations in Afghanistan.

    “It is with deep regret that I learned today that six U.S. service members died in Afghanistan Monday,” U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said in a statement, adding that three others were wounded, including an American contractor.

    “It serves as a painful reminder of the dangers our troops face every day in Afghanistan.”

    The attack came as Taliban insurgents in Helmand were closing in on the strategic district of Sangin, tightening their grip on the volatile southern province.

    Local residents reported crippling food shortages in the district, long seen as a hornet’s nest of insurgent activity, after the Taliban began storming government buildings Sunday.

    “The Taliban have captured the police headquarters, the governor’s office as well as the intelligence agency building in Sangin,” deputy Helmand governor Mohammad Jan Rasoolyar said.

    “Fighting is escalating in the district,” he said.

    (SD-Agencies)