Another American soldier was missing after the blast on one of the deadliest days for U.S. forces since they deployed here two years ago. An Afghan interpreter also was injured.

The explosion occurred Thursday afternoon as the soldiers worked around the cache in the village of Dehe Hendu, about 90 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul, in Ghazni province.

Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a spokesman at U.S. military headquarters in Kabul, said an investigation was ongoing but provided no details. He said it was unclear whether the blast was an accident.

"There's no indication one way or another," Hilferty said.

However, provincial Gov. Haji Asadullah Khan said the blast was set off by mistake as the U.S. soldiers were trying to defuse arms at an old weapons depot found in an open area.

"I'm sure it wasn't a plot by the Taliban," Khan said. "We know the area and the people are good."

The deaths come at the end of a bloody month that has underscored the danger and instability still plaguing Afghanistan two years after a U.S.-led invasion ousted the hard-line Islamic Taliban regime for harboring Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaida network.

This month alone, about 80 people have died in violent incidents in Afghanistan, including civilians, militants, police officers, international peacekeepers and now American soldiers.

Coalition soldiers regularly uncover and destroy caches of weapons, usually dating back to the U.S.-backed mujahedeen resistance against the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. Residents often lead military units to the caches - a sign, the military says, that it is winning the confidence of Afghans tired after almost a quarter-century of strife.

The wounded soldiers from Thursday's explosion were evacuated to a hospital at Bagram Air Base, the main camp of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan. Names of the victims were being withheld until their families could be notified.

The Taliban were quickly driven from power but sporadic fighting has continued. Earlier this month, the U.S. death toll reached 100. Sixteen of those deaths occurred in combat - including seven when two helicopters took enemy fire March 4, 2002.

The toll includes deaths in other areas of Operation Enduring Freedom, such as a helicopter crash in the Philippines nearly two years ago that killed 10 American soldiers - the deadliest in the operation. Seven soldiers also died on Jan. 9, 2002 when their tanker plane slammed into a mountain in Pakistan.

The United States provides 9,000 of the 11,000-member anti-terror coalition troops stationed in Afghanistan. Officials say U.S. forces are preparing a spring offensive against Taliban and al-Qaida holdouts amid concern that operations in Afghanistan haven't been as effective in breaking up terrorist networks as they had hoped.

Hilferty also said Thursday that the U.S. military is "sure" it will catch bin Laden - chief suspect in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that sparked the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan - this year, perhaps within months.

Separately, investigators are also sifting through evidence from suicide bombings that killed British and Canadian soldiers in Kabul earlier this week. The Taliban have claimed responsibility for both blasts, alleging they are the start of a bombing campaign across the country.

British troops held a memorial ceremony Thursday for Pvt. Jonathan Kitulagoda, 23, of Plymouth in southwest England, killed the day before by a suicide bomber.

Commanders and diplomats joined about 150 soldiers to hear readings, prayers and tributes from Kitulagoda's friends in a private gathering, said Capt. Tom Smith, spokesman for the 300-strong British contingent. Kitulagoda's body likely will be flown home next week, he said.

Kitulagoda was killed when a suicide bomber detonated a yellow-and-white taxi next to an unarmored jeep. Four other British soldiers were wounded. That attack came a day after a Canadian soldier was killed in a similar suicide attack.

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