Afghanistan ? A suicide bomber rammed his car into a U.S. military convoy passing through a crowded market in eastern Afghanistan today, killing a coalition soldier and at least five civilians, U.S. and Afghan officials said.

The attack outside Jalalabad, the capital of the eastern Nangarhar province, also wounded 57 civilians, said Ajmal Pardes, a provincial health official.

Lt. Cmdr. Walter Matthews, a U.S. military spokesman, said a U.S. coalition member died of his injuries received in the attack. He would not disclose the nationality of the victim, but another U.S. spokesman earlier said that an American soldier was wounded in the blast.

If confirmed, that death would bring the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan to at least 148, the highest number of troop deaths per year since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. There were 111 U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan in the whole of 2007.