BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, 1 October 2003 — A US soldier was killed and two others wounded in a gunbattle which also left two militants dead in southeastern Afghanistan, a US military spokesman said yesterday. “One coalition service member died of wounds received in combat and two others were wounded as a result of fighting on Monday near Shkin,” Col. Rodney Davis told reporters at the US-led coalition’s Bagram Air Base headquarters 50 kilometers north of Kabul.
All the troops were American and the name of the dead soldier was being withheld pending notification of next of kin, the colonel said.
“The soldiers were engaged in a combat maneuver against anti-coalition soldiers,” Davis said. “We killed the two enemy soldiers with small-arms fire and our soldiers died as a result of direct fire as well,” he said.
Davis said it was not known how many militants were involved in Monday’s clash and did not provide any further information. Shkin base, in Paktika province, some 280 kilometers south of Kabul, is regularly targeted by suspected fighters of the ousted Taleban regime alleged to be regrouping over the border in Pakistan.
The colonel last week described Shkin as “the most evil place in Afghanistan” because of frequent attacks there which have resulted in more coalition deaths than in any other part of the country.
Attackers fired six rockets at the base on Sunday, prompting coalition artillery fire in response. Two rockets were also fired at the base on Saturday but neither attack caused any coalition casualties or damage.
Afghan officials say resurgent Taleban forces have controlled the nearby border district of Barmal since seizing it last month in a bloody assault. They have also claimed control of four other districts in Paktika and neighboring Zabul province.
