US spokesman on two US soldiers killed in gunbattle in Paktika

Описание: (1 Sep 2003)

1. Colonel Rodney Davis, US military spokesman at briefing
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Colonel Rodney Davis, US military spokesman:
"Three Warrior soldiers - and when I say Warrior soldiers I mean they belong to the Warrior Brigade of the 10th Mountain (Division) - were engaged in operations near the Shkin Fire base yesterday. They were involved in a combat mission, came under attack, three soldiers were wounded, all three were US belonging to the Warrior Brigade of 10th Mountain. Two of them eventually died of their wounds. We are not releasing their names right now pending next of kin notification, but that occurred yesterday (Sunday)."
3. Press listening
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Colonel Rodney Davis, US military spokesman:
"To date a total of 34 coalition personnel have been killed in action. Previously I gave you a number of 31, this has been updated to 34 now. One of those of course was an accident, one of our soldiers fell and we released that earlier. But a total of 34 coalition personnel have been killed and a total of 167 wounded in action."
5. Various briefing

STORYLINE:

The US military confirmed on Monday that two US soldiers were killed in a gunbattle on Sunday with insurgents in Paktika province, eastern Afghanistan.

The fighting, near the border with Pakistan, came when US troops were patrolling northwest of the border town of Shkin, US military spokesman, Colonel Rodney Davis said at a press conference in Bagram.

Three soldiers - all from the Warrior Brigade of the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) - were wounded in the initial assault, he said.

A US rapid reaction force was called in and a 90-minute firefight followed. Two US A-10 warplanes were called in for air support but didn't open fire, the military said.

Two of the wounded soldiers later died, and the third was rushed to Bagram Air Base, the US military headquarters in Afghanistan, for treatment.

The soldiers' deaths came after a US special operations soldier was killed on Friday in a fall during the fighting in Zabul province.

A week earlier another US soldier was killed in combat in eastern Afghanistan.

In all, Colonel Davis said 34 US soldiers have been killed in action in Afghanistan, and 167 wounded. Some reports have put the figures at 35 and 162 respectively.

In further violence on Monday, suspected Taliban fighters attacked an Afghan government checkpoint and ambushed another group of soldiers along the main road linking the south with the capital, killing at least eight soldiers and taking two captive.

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