Two US soldiers were killed and five were wounded today in a battle in southeastern Afghanistan in which at least three opposing fighters also died, the US military said.
A statement from Col Roger King, spokesman for the US military in Afghanistan, said one Afghan government soldier was also hurt in the clash with about 20 fighters near a US base at Shkin in Paktika province near the border with Pakistan.
The statement said the clash took place near a site used in the past by opposing forces to launch rocket attacks after a platoon-sized unit responded to a report of suspicious activity.
The statement did not identify the US units involved and said names of the casualties were being withheld pending notification of next of kin. It did not give the condition of the wounded.
At a briefing in Washington, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the US military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, provided more details on the incident.
"The resulting firefight cost the lives of two US servicemen. Additionally some US and Afghan soldiers were wounded. We engaged the enemy from the ground and from the air and continue to look for them," Myers said.
About 11,500 US-led coalition troops are in Afghanistan pursuing remnants of the former Taliban regime and the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden blamed for the September 11th attacks on the US in 2001.