19 Afghan Policemen Killed in Ambush

Suspected Taliban rebels ambushed a police convoy in southern Afghanistan and killed 19 officers, officials said today.

The convoy of 150 police officers was attacked late Monday while driving on a dirt road along the side of a mountain in Helmand province, Interior Ministry spokesman Yusuf Stanikzai said.

Dozens of insurgents opened fire on the convoy, sparking a gun battle that lasted until early today before the militants fled into the mountains, he said.

Four police officers were wounded and four police vehicles were destroyed.

Earlier, the U.S. military said Monday that two battles in eastern Afghanistan had left a U.S. soldier dead and three others wounded.

The U.S. military released a statement about an attack Sunday on its troops in the eastern province of Paktika that killed the soldier and wounded another.

In a second battle, in Kunar, another eastern province, militants attacked a patrol, wounding two U.S. troops Monday, a separate military statement said.

Also in Kunar, a U.S. special forces Chinook helicopter caught fire and was destroyed after an engine malfunctioned and the aircraft made a hard landing during an operation Thursday, officials said Monday. No one was injured.