May our Special men rest in peace.
Two U.S. soldiers killed, one wounded in Afghan ambush
By JAMEY KEATEN
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) -- Four gunmen on motorcycles ambushed a U.S. military reconnaissance patrol in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing two Americans and wounding a third, officials said.
Three Afghan soldiers also were wounded.
Meanwhile, U.S. special operations soldiers backed by air support joined about 1,000 Afghan troops to battle about 100 Taliban fighters in southern Uruzgan province, the U.S. military said. At least 15 Taliban fighters were reported killed.
The ambush attack was the first fatal encounter for U.S. forces in this country since December, but came just two days after a Red Cross worker was killed in southern Afghanistan in what could signal a resurgence of activity by holdout fighters of the former Taliban regime.
Afghan authorities Saturday accused Taliban fugitives and their al-Qaida allies, as well as forces loyal to renegade rebel commander Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, of ambushing the convoy.
In recent interviews with The Associated Press, Taliban loyalists hiding in neighboring Pakistan said training camps were established in the Afghan mountains and anti-American forces had united. They warned of stepped-up attacks once the war in Iraq began.
One special forces soldier and an airman were killed and another special forces trooper was wounded when their four-vehicle convoy was ambushed during a reconnaissance patrol near Geresk, the military said in a statement from Bagram Air Base, the headquarters of U.S. forces north of the capital, Kabul. The victims were not immediately identified.
Geresk is in Helmand province, about 70 miles west of the city of Kandahar.
Army spokesman Col. Roger King said there were less than 20 people in the convoy.
"They drove into a kill zone," King told The Associated Press.
The convoy sped out of the area after the Americans were shot and a gunfight ensued, King said.
There likely will be a response from the U.S. military, which recently finished an anti-terror sweep known as Operation Viper in the area.
"We'll probably make attempts to find out who did the ambushing," King said, without elaborating.
Saturday's deaths bring to 18 the number of U.S. forces killed in combat in Afghanistan.
Dad Mohammed Khan, the intelligence chief of Helmand, told AP the U.S. soldiers were inspecting a school and hospital built with American funding when they were ambushed by four men riding two motorcycles. The gunmen escaped.
He identified them as fighters of the Taliban regime, which was ousted by a U.S.-led coalition in late 2001, although he did not explain how he knew they were Taliban.
The surge in violence in the south could disrupt international aid projects in Afghanistan.
The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, which has 160 expatriates and 1,500 Afghans working in this country, said it was suspending operations after Wednesday's killing of 39-year-old Ricardo Munguia, a citizen of El Salvador and Switzerland.
Munguia, a water engineer, was intercepted on a dirt road while driving back to Kandahar from a project in Tarin Kot, about 70 miles to the north.
The last U.S. military fatality occurred Dec. 21 during a nighttime shootout in the eastern province of Paktika, near the Pakistan border.
Meanwhile, no coalition casualties were reported in the battle in the Khakrez district of southern Uruzgan province, but six Afghan soldiers were wounded, authorities said.
In Oslo, the Norwegian military said two Norwegian F-16 fighter jets on a routine patrol were called in to support coalition ground troops and dropped four laser-guided bombs on targets northeast of Kandahar. It was the third time Norwegian jets have engaged in combat in Afghanistan.
The U.S. military said two Apache helicopters that joined the attack were fired on from the ground.
Many Taliban are believed to be have taken refuge in southern Afghanistan after they were ousted by U.S.-led forces in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attac
It's just starting.
Well, nothing really changed since the Soviets were there...same barbaric Afghans, different enemy. These people were never civilized and never will be. There is nothing in Aghanistan that is worth even one Westerner's life.