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US-led forces kill four gunmen near unruly Afghan-Pak border
Bagram Air Base, (Afghanistan), June 10: US-led troops killed four gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades who attacked a patrol near the Pakistani border, a US military spokesman said.
Bagram Air Base, (Afghanistan), June 10: US-led troops killed four gunmen armed with AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades who attacked a patrol near the Pakistani border, a US military spokesman said.
"The enemy force opened fire on the patrol which manoeuvred through the contact with no casualties," Colonel Rodney Davis told reporters at Bagram air base 50 kilometers north of Kabul.
The skirmish erupted near a us-led troop base near Shkin along Afghanistan's southeast border at 1:30 am (2.30 am IST) and lasted for three hours, he said.
Coalition troops returned fire and reinforcements from shkin fired illumination flares and high explosive rounds to back up the patrol.
Reinforcements linked up with the patrol and they searched the area and a nearby compound, killing an attacker who tried to throw a grenade at them, Davis said.
"They found three enemy killed in action and engaged a fourth attempting to throw a hand grenade at the coalition force, killing him," he said, adding that there were no coalition casualties.
Hundreds of coalition troops last week carried out two operations hunting for Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in the mountains of neighbouring Paktia province.
"We are here to kill or capture anti-coalition Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives and although combat operations aren't our primary focus, we will continue combat engagement to the degree necessary to deny sanctuary to anti-coalition forces," Davis said.
Bureau Report
The skirmish erupted near a us-led troop base near Shkin along Afghanistan's southeast border at 1:30 am (2.30 am IST) and lasted for three hours, he said.
Coalition troops returned fire and reinforcements from shkin fired illumination flares and high explosive rounds to back up the patrol.
Reinforcements linked up with the patrol and they searched the area and a nearby compound, killing an attacker who tried to throw a grenade at them, Davis said.
"They found three enemy killed in action and engaged a fourth attempting to throw a hand grenade at the coalition force, killing him," he said, adding that there were no coalition casualties.
Hundreds of coalition troops last week carried out two operations hunting for Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters in the mountains of neighbouring Paktia province.
"We are here to kill or capture anti-coalition Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives and although combat operations aren't our primary focus, we will continue combat engagement to the degree necessary to deny sanctuary to anti-coalition forces," Davis said.
Bureau Report