U.S. Soldiers Aiding Police Officer Kill Gunman Near Afghan Town

U.S. Special Forces troops shot and killed a gunman who fired on them near the central Afghan town of Deh Rawod, a U.S. military spokesman said Friday.

The forces were helping an Afghan police officer who had been fired on Thursday in the province of Oruzgan when two attackers in civilian clothing opened fire on the U.S. forces with AK-47 assault rifles, spokesman Col. Roger King said. The soldiers returned fire, killing one man. The other escaped.

King said the dead man’s identity was not yet known.

Separately, eight people fired on U.S. Special Forces troops about two miles north of Khowst, in eastern Afghanistan. AH-64 Apache attack helicopters fired rockets and 30-millimeter rounds before the eight fled.

There were no U.S. casualties in either incident.

Paratroops swept through four areas near Khowst on Thursday and Friday morning, seizing weapons including 28 mines, 76 hand grenades, 147 rocket-launched grenades, 62 launchers, more than 500 5.62-millimeter rounds and 12 107-millimeter rockets.

Five men were taken to Khowst for questioning, King said.

Also Friday, American attack helicopters were circling the skies over Khowst after unidentified attackers fired four rockets toward the U.S. base there, an Afghan government official in Khowst said on condition of anonymity.

It was unclear how close the rockets came to the Khowst airfield, and there were no reports of casualties.