US soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Two US and one Afghan soldier were killed in fighting in eastern Afghanistan, US military officials said today.

Three US soldiers were also wounded in last night’s “fighting with enemy combatants in the Pech District of Kunar Province,” a military statement said.

The wounded troops were flown to a hospital and were in stabile condition, the statement said.

“The soldiers were operating as part of a combat patrol that made contact with enemy extremists. The unit engaged the insurgents with small arms and artillery fire,” it said.

Some 7,000 Afghan and US troops are operating in eastern Afghanistan as part of Operation Mountain Fury, aimed at extending the reach of the Afghan government and fighting the insurgents.

Separately, three border policemen were killed and three others were wounded after a large group of Taliban attacked their outpost near the border with Pakistan in the eastern Paktika province, the province’s governor Mohammad Akram Akhpelwak said.