Third US soldier killed in Afghan clashes
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-22 16:04

A U.S. soldier was killed while on patrol in Afghanistan's eastern Paktia province this week on the same day two servicemen died in neighboring Paktika, the U.S. military said on Wednesday.

The U.S. military earlier announced the deaths of the two soldiers in fighting near the Pakistan border on Monday. It said a third soldier had died in a separate incident on the same day.

Paktia and Paktika are both heartlands for Taliban militants bent on disrupting Afghanistan's first-ever direct presidential elections scheduled for Oct. 9.

In addition to the three deaths, 14 U.S. soldiers had been wounded in eight separate incidents on Monday, said a spokesman for the U.S.-led force in Afghanistan, Major Scott Nelson.

"As operations continue, resistance is expected," he said.

At least nine insurgents were killed, Nelson said.

Six Afghan national Army soldiers were wounded and one was reported missing, he said.

More than 17,000 U.S. troops and their allies are fighting an insurgency waged by the Taliban, overthrown in 2001 for supporting Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, architects of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

Interim President Hamid Karzai -- in New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly -- is expected to defeat 17 opponents standing against him in the election.

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