US soldier killed in Taliban clashes

AMERICAN troops clashed with suspected Taliban near a remote outpost in fighting that killed one American and wounded two others, the latest violence in Afghanistan's increasingly virulent insurgency, officials said yesterday.

The battle occurred on Monday near a coalition base at Shkin, just a few miles from the Pakistan border, an area that has seen frequent skirmishes, spokesman Col. Rodney Davis said from Bagram Air Base, the US military headquarters in Afghanistan.

"One coalition service member died of wounds received in combat and two others were wounded as a result of fighting," Davis said in a statement. "Coalition forces killed two enemy fighters with direct small arms fire."

The death brings to 36 the number of US troops killed in action in Afghanistan, in addition to at least 164 that have been wounded. Davis said the soldiers were not engaged in Mountain Viper, an ongoing operation in the south and east of the country to root out Taliban fighters.

Taliban rebels have dramatically stepped up operations in recent months. They waged a fierce battle in late August and early September in the mountains of southern Zabul province in which an American special operations soldier died.

American and Afghan military officials say well over 100 Taliban were also killed in that battle. Still, the ability of the Taliban to organise such stiff resistance has raised concern over the power of US-backed President Hamid Karzai's government to bring order to his war-ravaged nation. Monday's death came just ahead of a visit last Friday by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to Afghanistan to discuss the war on terrorism.

Suspected Taliban have also increasingly targeted Afghan government officials and international aid workers, who have been largely forced to suspend reconstruction projects in wide swaths of the country.

Last week, suspected Taliban ambushed a pickup truck in southern Afghanistan, shooting to death two Afghan aid workers. Four Afghans working for a Danish charity were tied up and shot to death in September.

Afghan soldiers recently beefed up their presence in Paktika province, where Shkin is located, apparently in response to increased Taliban activity.

"The Taliban are creeping over the border and making guerrilla attacks and then they're quickly returning to Pakistan," said Kashmir Khan, an assistant to the Paktika governor.

Shkin and another coalition base to the north in Khost, both along the porous border with Pakistan, have come under near daily rocket attack. Afghan and Western officials say they believe Taliban fighters are hiding across the border in Pakistan, then crossing over to launch attacks.

Some 11,500 coalition troops are in the US-led coalition to hunt down Taliban and remnants of al-Qaida.