KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) Insurgents ambushed a coalition patrol
in eastern Afghanistan on Friday, killing one American and wounding
three, and setting off fighting that left seven militants dead, the
U.S. military said. It was the third deadly attack on U.S. forces
in the region in a week.
The clash occurred in Paktika province after the insurgents
attacked a patrol of U.S.-led coalition and Afghan forces, a
military statement said. The militants fled after the fighting and
American forces deployed attack aircraft in pursuit.
''Our patrols of coalition and Afghan forces are relentless in
the pursuit of the enemy,'' Army Brig. Gen. Jack Sterling, deputy
commanding general of Combined Joint Task Force-76, was quoted as
saying in the statement. ''We are deeply saddened by the loss of
our soldier and will honor him by continuing to take the fight to
the enemy.''
Two of the wounded U.S. soldiers were taken to a nearby base for
treatment while the third was treated and returned to duty, it
said.
Fighting in Paktika has killed five U.S. troops in the past
week. The province is next to the Pakistani border and militants
based in tribal regions on the other side of the mountainous
frontier often cross into Afghanistan to launch attacks, Afghan
officials say.
Seventeen suspected Taliban militants were reported captured in
the border area Monday.
''The enemy may still be powerful at times, but not nearly as
powerful as the combined efforts of Afghan and coalition forces
when fighting alongside each other,'' U.S. military spokesman Lt.
Col. Jerry O'Hara told The Associated Press by telephone.
The death brought to 149 the number of U.S. military personnel
killed in and around Afghanistan since the Taliban were driven from
power in 2001.
Even though U.S. military commanders express optimism about
progress toward making Afghanistan secure, there has been a sharp
rise in bombings, shootings and other violence since winter's snow
melted in mountain passes used by insurgents.
Security forces have hit back hard, killing more than 200
suspected militants since March, U.S. and Afghan officials say.
