Afghan-U.S. forces repel base attacks
Afghan and American troops repelled a "failed attack" on U.S. and Afghan bases Sunday in eastern Afghanistan, killing 12 insurgents and wounding 12 others, the U.S. military said. In a news release issued on Monday, the military said 30 to 40 insurgents attacked five bases in the Korengal valley in Kunar province with small arms, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and indirect fire, a reference to mortars and rockets. The troops fought off the insurgents with ground fire and air support. There were no reports of casualties among Afghan or U.S. troops, or civilians. In the Bati Kowt district of nearby Nangarhar province, two insurgents and a member of the Afghan National Security Forces were killed during a military operation. The troops, advised by coalition forces, were pursuing "a known suicide bomb and IED facilitator" when attackers with machine guns fired at them. Four insurgents were detained in the incident. In the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, an Australian special operations soldier was killed in a gunfight after Taliban extremists attacked soldiers with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, the Australian government said. Four other soldiers in the NATO-led force were wounded, according to NATO's International Security Assistance Force. |
