Nine Soldiers Die in Afghan Ambush
Six American soldiers and three Afghan soldiers were killed Friday when insurgents ambushed them in eastern Afghanistan, NATO officials said Saturday.
U.S. forces are operating in Nuristan Province, where the ambush took place, as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. "It was a complex ambush by machine guns and rocket propelled grenades that were fired from at least two different positions," said Lieutenant Colonel David Acceta, spokesman for the ISAF and the U.S military.
The ambush took place in Arnis, a village in the Waygal district, said Muhammad Dawood Nadim, deputy police chief of Nuristan Province. Acceta said the troops were on foot returning from a meeting with village elders.
Eight U.S. soldiers and 11 Afghan soldiers were also wounded, NATO said. The ambush was the deadliest for U.S soldiers in Afghanistan since a Chinook helicopter crash in southern Zabul province in February killed eight Americans.
"A combined element of Afghan and ISAF forces was ambushed with small-arms and rocket propelled grenades by insurgents from multiple positions," an ISAF statement said.
Waygal borders Kunar Province, where U.S. forces also operate as part of the NATO mission. Kunar is a stronghold of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a warlord the United States backed during the anti-Soviet jihad of the 1980s. Hekmatyar allied with the Taliban in the 1990s.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/10/world/asia/11afghan.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
Last updated 12/11/2007