US soldier wounded in Afghanistan

A US soldier was wounded in eastern Afghanistan in a gun battle near the border with Pakistan, the US military said today.

The soldier, who was shot yesterday afternoon with an AK-47, was medically evacuated to Bagram Air Base and later flown to Landsthul regional medical centre in Germany “for further examination and neurological testing”, the military said in a statement at Bagram, the headquarters of US forces in Afghanistan.

The soldier’s name was not released and no other details were immediately available.

On Saturday another US soldier was wounded at Kandahar Air Field in southern Afghanistan, but not from hostile fire.

The military declined to provide details about that shooting, which is under investigation.

Earlier this month a US soldier was killed in fighting in eastern Afghanistan. Sergeant Steven Checo, 22, a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division was shot while on a nighttime operation in the eastern province of Paktika, near the border of Pakistan. The assailants fled into Pakistan.