14 rebels die in Afghan skirmish

US troops and helicopters killed 14 insurgents in clashes in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan, the military said today.

Three US soldiers were wounded in the battle 12 miles northeast of Shkin, a town in Paktika province near the Pakistan border.

The first three militants were killed in a gunbattle after a small group of insurgents fired on a US patrol, spokesman Lt Col Bryan Hilferty said.

The same patrol later found the insurgents, and AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters flying in support inflicted several more casualties, Hilferty said.

One of the wounded American soldiers was evacuated and is in a stable condition, Hilferty said.

The other two immediately returned to duty.

Suspected Taliban and al-Qaida militants regularly attack US and allied Afghan forces as well as government and aid workers in a broad swathe of southern and eastern Afghanistan along the rugged Pakistani frontier.