Bagram, Afghanistan — U.S. soldiers exchanged fire Friday with gunmen in eastern Afghanistan. Two American soldiers were killed and several wounded, the military said. An Afghan soldier accompanying the patrol of about 35 U.S. special forces in Paktika province also was hurt, said U.S. Colonel Roger King.
Col. King said that one U.S. soldier was killed and five wounded. But in Washington, General Richard Myers, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, later said two U.S. soldiers had been killed.
The gunbattle at Shkin, near the border with Pakistan, involved at least 20 gunmen, Col. King said at Bagram, the U.S. military headquarters north of the capital, Kabul. He said a second group of 35 U.S. soldiers was quickly called in, and two F-16 fighter jets, an A-10 fighter aircraft and helicopter gunships pounded the area.
At least three enemy fighters were killed, while the remainder escaped across the nearby border into Pakistan.
The area in eastern Afghanistan has been one of the most active in the country, with frequent rocket attacks on U.S. bases. Remaining Taliban loyalists are believed to have linked forces with al-Qaeda fugitives and followers of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former prime minister who has gone underground and vowed to undermine the government of President Hamid Karzai.
The U.S. special forces had come to the area to investigate “suspicious activity,” Col. King said. The gunbattle occurred not far from where rockets were fired Wednesday at a U.S. military outpost.
The wounded were airlifted to Bagram and the southern city of Kandahar for treatment, Col. King said. None of the soldiers were identified.
