9 United States troops have been reported killed in Afghanistan after Taliban militants attacked an outpost in the Kunar Province near the Pakistan border.
The Battle of Wanat - a mountainous village in the Dara-I-Pech district - began at 4:30 local time (UTC+4:30), just before dawn, with insurgents firing from homes and a mosque in Wanat.
"The insurgents went into an adjacent village, drove the villagers out, used their homes and a mosque as a base from which to launch the attack and fire on the outpost," said Mark Laity a spokesperson for NATO. "Some of the insurgents also then attacked. I think it looks as if they made a brief breach into the base and were repelled," he said.
A soldier with the ISAF patrols the mountainous Kunar Province in 2006.
A soldier with the ISAF patrols the mountainous Kunar Province in 2006.
A force estimated to number in the hundreds then tried to overrun the outpost, which had only been established three days ago, according to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
The outpost was able to organize and call in air support and drive back the assault, which had been able to penetrate the base perimeters. An estimated forty militants were killed in the battle. Fifteen US troops have been reported wounded. The fighting continued until mid-afternoon.
"Instead of looking at it necessarily from the perspective of the Taliban or terrorists being more aggressive in coming after NATO or U.S. forces or Afghan forces, in this particular case it was an example of NATO, U.S. and Afghan forces being aggressive in combatting cross-border infiltration," said Sean McCormack of the United States Department of State.
