THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.  THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: We have some breaking news to report for you now. It has been learned by CNN that several American soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan. Let's go to Ryan Chilcote, who joins us from Kandahar with the latest on that. Ryan, what can you tell us?</s>RYAN CHILCOTE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK. Yes, very sad news indeed. I personally witnessed the helicopters come in and unload the body bags of what we are told is at least three U.S. servicemen. Those servicemen were apparently killed within the last four hours in an explosion near Kandahar. Details beyond that at this point are sketchy -- back to you.</s>ZAHN: Ryan, I know you haven't been told much about the circumstances surrounding these three deaths, but there was news over the weekend that American troops had come under attack by some al Qaeda extremists. Is anyone tying these two developments together? All right. Obviously, we are challenged with a very long delay here from the United States to Afghanistan. Ryan Chilcote confirming for us that at least three American servicemen have died. About all he is being told is that there was an explosion outside of Kandahar. As soon as we have more information available, we will bring it to you live. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Three U.S. Soldiers Killed in Blast Near Kandahar