US soldier killed in Afghanistan attack

Suspected Taliban fighters ambushed a US combat patrol in southern Afghanistan, killing one soldier, the military said today.

The incident happened as hundreds of Afghan forces were deployed in a neighbouring province after seizing a consignment of rebel weapons.

And US troops defused a bomb targeting a bridge, not far from where the patrol was attacked yesterday in Helmand province, after they were alerted by Afghan authorities, the local police chief said.

The flurry of incidents over the weekend underscored the security threats to Afghanistan as it plans, with United Nations help, to hold general elections in September, viewed as a keystone in rebuilding the nation after a quarter of a century of war.

Lt Col Michele DeWerth, US military spokeswoman in the capital, Kabul, said one American soldier was killed and two wounded in the attack on the patrol near Girishk in Helmand. The two wounded returned to duty after medical treatment.

She did not name any of the soldiers.

DeWerth said one “anti-coalition” fighter was detained at the scene.

Dad Mohammed Khan, the intelligence chief for Helmand, said Afghan agents had arrested two suspected Taliban over the attack today. He identified them as brothers of the Taliban district commander when the hardline militia was in power.