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02/14/2006:

"Four U.S. Troops Killed in Afghanistan"

Four U.S. service members were killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan today while on patrol with Afghan National Army forces, the military announced today.

The troops were traveling in a Humvee armored vehicle when the attack occurred north of Deh Rahwod in Uruzgan Province.

After the attack, the military said the patrol got into a firefight involving small arms and rocket propelled grenades.

U.S. aircraft were called in to aid forces on the ground, according to a news release issued by the Combined Forces Command in Kabul.

"This is a said and tragic day for all of us," Brig. Gen. John Sterling, deputy commanding general, said in a statement. "This incident increases our resolve to continue their efforts to ultimate success."
washingtonpost.com


Two Afghan militiamen killed, six missing in Taliban attack
KABUL: Two militia soldiers working for US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan were killed and six were missing after an attack by Taliban in the volatile south, a commander said Monday.

An eight-member militia convoy came under attack in troubled Helmand province, "Two of our soldiers were killed yesterday as they came under attack by Taliban. We have found two bodies and another six soldiers are missing," he said.

A purported spokesman for the Taliban militia, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, claimed responsibility for the ambush in Helmand's Girishk district and said eight soldiers had been killed.

There are regular clashes in Helmand, Afghanistan's top opium-producing area. More than 40 people were killed there earlier this month in a single day of battles between suspected Taliban and security forces.