US-led troops killed in Afghan ambush

KABUL, Aug 26: Two soldiers from a US-led force have been killed in an ambush in Afghanistan, the force today said, the latest casualties in the bloodiest period of Afghan violence since the Taliban were overthrown.

The US-led coalition initially said the two were killed in a roadside bomb blast and ambush in the eastern province of Laghman today, but a force spokesman later said it had happened yesterday.

Two soldiers from the force were wounded. They were in stable condition. The force did not give the nationality of the soldiers killed or wounded.

Afghanistan is going through the bloodiest phase of violence since US-led troops drove the Taliban from power after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

About 2,000 people, most of them militants, but also civilians, Afghan forces, aid workers and more than 90 foreign troops have been killed in violence this year.

The Taliban insurgency is concentrated in the south and east, mostly in provinces on the border with Pakistan.

REUTERS