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| Afghanistan |
| Five US, Latvian troops killed in Afghan attack |
| 2009-05-02 |
| Three US and two Latvian troops were killed when the Taliban stormed a military outpost in northeastern Afghanistan on Friday, officials said. The Taliban attacked a small remote outpost of soldiers in the mountainous northeastern province of Kunar near the border with Pakistan, US military spokeswoman Captain Elizabeth Mathias told AFP. The Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman, General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, announced earlier on Friday that Afghan troops had come under attack in Kunar's rugged Ghaziabad district and three soldiers had been killed and two wounded. It could not immediately be confirmed if it was the same incident but that appeared likely. The Taliban had claimed responsibility. Azimi said 20 of the Taliban who attacked the Kunar base overnight on Friday had been killed or wounded in the counterattack. The NATO and US-led forces, working together to fight the Taliban, did not immediately give the nationalities of the troops killed but said one was from the US Forces in Afghanistan. "The four International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) soldiers and one US soldier were killed during an incident that included small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenade strikes," they said in a joint statement. Mathias said later that two of the ISAF troops were also US nationals. The Latvian army announced in Riga that two of its soldiers were killed and two wounded. The joint statement said Afghan and international troops had returned fire and called in air support after coming under attack. "The insurgents withdrew and ISAF-Afghan forces are in pursuit," it said, giving no other details. About 30 soldiers were stationed in the outpost, Mathias said. Latvia has around 160 soldiers in Afghanistan and those in Kunar are involved in mentoring the growing Afghan forces. The US has roughly 38,000 troops here, the most of the roughly 40 nations serving in Afghanistan, and they have combat and training roles. It was the deadliest toll for foreign soldiers in a single incident in Afghanistan since an August 18 attack on French troops left 10 of them dead and 21 wounded. |
| Posted by:Fred |