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US suffers heavy Afghan losses | US suffers heavy Afghan losses |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Nine US soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, in one of the biggest losses of life in a single incident since operations there began in 2001. | |
The troops died when insurgents attacked a military outpost in the north-eastern province of Kunar, close to the border with Pakistan. | |
The fighting came as international and Afghan forces battled militants on several fronts. | |
One soldier from the US-led coalition was killed by a bomb in Helmand. | |
On Sunday, US forces said 40 insurgents had been killed in Helmand province in 24 hours. | |
Insurgents 'hiding' | Insurgents 'hiding' |
A statement from Nato's International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said the nine were killed in several hours of fighting in a mountainous area in Kunar province. | |
It said 15 more Isaf soldiers were wounded along with four Afghan troops. | |
Isaf currently has 53,000 troops from 40 countries. | |
Insurgents used rockets, mortars and machine guns to attack the remote Afghan army and Nato outpost. | |
Isaf and Afghan National Army forces responded with small arms, machine guns, mortars and artillery, the statement said. | |
Fighter jets and Apache helicopters were also deployed. Reports quoting Afghan officials say there may also have been civilian casualties. | |
Nato says the rebels suffered heavy casualties. It did not name the attackers but there has been a sharp increase in Taleban attacks in the country, and in that region in particular. | |
The BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul says Afghanistan's north-eastern border with Pakistan is a well-known trouble spot. | |
The fighting is close to where US forces were accused of killing 47 civilians in an air strike in Nangarhar province a week ago. | The fighting is close to where US forces were accused of killing 47 civilians in an air strike in Nangarhar province a week ago. |
The US military said they were militants. | The US military said they were militants. |
In a separate incident on Sunday, a suicide bomber killed at least 21 people, many of them children, in a market in the Deh Rawud district of Uruzgan province. | In a separate incident on Sunday, a suicide bomber killed at least 21 people, many of them children, in a market in the Deh Rawud district of Uruzgan province. |
No group has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing. | No group has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing. |