U.S. Troops Kill 24 After Afghan Ambush

U.S. soldiers killed about two dozen suspected Taliban militants in southern Afghanistan after the Americans’ convoy came under attack, the military said Sunday.

The suspected militants ambushed the convoy Saturday near the town of Spin Buldak, said U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Douglas Lefforge. The American troops returned fire, killing five attackers and pursuing the rest into the surrounding hills, he said.

U.S. Apache helicopter gunships chased the group and killed an estimated 19 of the suspected Taliban fighters, Lefforge said. There were no coalition casualties.

Also Saturday, about 60 suspected Taliban fighters attacked a border post in southern Afghanistan with heavy machine guns and assault rifles before escaping across the border into Pakistan, a government official said.

No local Afghan troops were hurt in the three-hour battle at the Shero Obah government post, said Khalik Khan Achekzai. The post called about 100 Afghan soldiers and 20 U.S. Special Forces troops from Kandahar, about 60 miles away, for assistance.

Two of the suspected Taliban fighters died and five were injured in the border attack, said another government official, Fazluddin Aga.

The attackers “came from the direction of Pakistan. When we sent more troops with U.S. soldiers, they crossed the border and returned to Pakistan,” Achekzai said.