KABUL, 26 July 2005 — One US soldier and an Afghan serviceman were killed in “heavy fighting” yesterday that also left 11 insurgents dead in south-central Afghanistan, the US military said.
About 15 to 30 insurgents fired on a US-Afghan patrol with guns, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades near a village in Uruzgan province, also wounding three American troops and an Afghan soldier, it said in a statement.
“Attack aircraft and helicopters responded to the scene of the incident,” said the statement about the clash west of Deh Rawood.
“The helicopters fired on enemy forces as Afghan and US forces searched the village house-to- house.”
Eight militants had been captured as US and Afghan forces searched the area, the statement said, and four rocket-propelled grenades, two AK-47 assault rifles and a radio had been confiscated.
The wounded coalition troops were transported to a nearby base for treatment. One of them was later taken to an American base in Germany for further treatment while another was treated and released.
The Afghan soldier was in surgery and expected to recover. Taleban-linked militants have stepped up attacks against government and US targets in recent months ahead of September parliamentary polls.
“This tragic loss strengthens our resolve to further the advance of a democratic Afghanistan,” said US Army Brig. Gen. Jack Sterling, deputy commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan.
Hostile fire in and around Afghanistan has now killed 38 US troops this year compared to 23 in 2004, according to the US Defense Department, while 22 US troops have died in accidents or from other causes in the conflict this year. More than 18,000 coalition troops are based in Afghanistan hunting down remnants of the Taleban, mainly in the war-torn country’s south and southeast.
In a clash Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, six US soldiers were wounded when a bomb laid by suspected militants exploded under their patrol vehicle and insurgents opened fire on them, the US military said earlier yesterday.
Fresh violence erupted after fugitive Taleban leader Mulla Mohammad Omar called on supporters to unite in their war on the government and US-led foreign forces.
A Taleban spokesman said Mulla Omar recently issued a message via field radio to the Taleban’s leadership council.
“Unite, and do not disagree, continue your jihad (holy war) and victory will be yours,” said a recording of the message purporting to come from Omar handed to Reuters in the southern city of Kandahar yesterday by a man who did not identify himself.
