Two marines die in Afghan clash

Two US marines were killed and another one wounded during an operation in violence-plagued eastern Afghanistan, the military said in Kabul today.

The clash was in Kunar, a province on the border with Pakistan, late last night, military spokesman Dave Dyer said. The wounded marine was in stable condition. None of the soldiers was identified.

“Two marines were killed and one was wounded during an operation northeast of Asadabad,” the provincial capital, Dyer said in a brief statement.

At least 92 American soldiers have now been killed in and around Afghanistan since the United States invaded Afghanistan in late 2001 an effort to oust the Taliban for harbouring Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida terror network.

Kunar is at one end of a broad swathe of southern and eastern Afghanistan plagued by a stubborn Taliban-led insurgency.

The chief of Kunar police, Matiullah Safi, said American warplanes had flown over Asadabad, where the US military has a base.

He said helicopters bombarded a mountain about four miles away, but he had not heard of any casualties from fighting or of any rebel attack against the base.

The American military has vowed to crush militants this year with a combination of stepped-up military operations and reconstruction aid to Afghan villagers who commanders hope will provide crucial intelligence on enemy movements.

But they have been unable to halt violence that has killed more than 500 people across the country so far this year, threatening plans to hold national elections in September.

US troops based in Asadabad, 120 miles east of the capital, Kabul, regularly come under fire from militants. The attacks with rockets and small arms rarely cause casualties.

In May, an explosion hit a car carrying Afghan election workers in the province, injuring all four people inside, two of them seriously.