U.S. soldiers kill about 24 suspected Taliban militants

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

The suspected militants ambushed the convoy Saturday near the town of Spinboldak, 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, Lefforge said.

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

Also Saturday, some 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.

Three-hour battle

None of the Afghan soldiers at the post were hurt in the three-hour battle late Saturday at the Shero Obah government post, said Khalik Khan Achekzai. They called about 100 Afghan soldiers and 20 U.S. Special Forces for assistance from Kandahar, about 60 miles away.

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

"They (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. The U.S. Special Forces called in helicopter gunships, which pounded the area.

While no group took responsibility for the attack, suspicion fell on the Taliban, which was ousted in the U.S.-led coalition's war on terror in late 2001.

Attacks in Afghanistan have increased in recent months, blamed on remnants of the Taliban, al-Qaida and loyalists of renegade rebel leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Achekzai said the fighters who attacked late Saturday were loyalists of former Taliban commander Hafiz Abdul Rahim. He is among several Taliban leaders President Hamid Karzai has asked for Pakistan's help in capturing.