KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) A land mine packed with additional explosives exploded under a vehicle carrying government militia troops in southeastern Afghanistan, killing two of the soldiers and injuring five others, the U.S. military said Monday.

The vehicle was in a convoy maneuvering through a dry creek bed near Qalat, 340 kilometers (210 miles) southwest of Kabul in Zabul province, when it hit the mine, a U.S. statement said.

The wounded were taken to the U.S. base in southern Kandahar. There was no word on their condition. The military blamed unidentified insurgents for laying the mine and about six kilograms (13 pounds) of additional explosives, which it said left a crater more than two meters (6.5 feet) wide and nearly one meter (3.3 feet) deep.

Taliban-led rebels have revived their three-year-old insurgency across south and east Afghanistan after a winter lull, in defiance of aggressive operations by U.S. and Afghan troops and a government offer of reconciliation.