3 American, 2 NATO soldiers killed in Afghanistan
Updated Fri. May. 1 2009 7:50 PM ET
The Associated Press
KABUL -- Three Americans and two other international troops were killed Friday in an attack in eastern Afghanistan, officials said.
Insurgents attacked Afghan and international forces Friday with rocket-propelled grenades and guns, NATO forces said in a statement. The troops called in air support, forcing the militants to withdraw. They are being pursued, the statement said.
Col. Greg Julian, a spokesman for U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, confirmed that three of the dead service members were Americans. The nationalities of the other two were not immediately known.
NATO typically lets individual countries announce their own casualties, but the clash was in an area where Canadian troops generally do not operate.
The Taliban have vowed to increase ambushes and other attacks as an additional 21,000 U.S. troops flood into Afghanistan this summer in an attempt to stem the group's resurgence and bolster security for August presidential elections.
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Three Afghan army soldiers and 15 militants also died in clashes in the south and east Friday, U.S. military and Afghan officials said. No international casualties were reported in those incidents.
