US troops attacked in Afghanistan

US troops attacked in Afghanistan

US forces - the Taleban have vowed to drive them out

The US military says its soldiers have come under rocket attack in south-eastern Afghanistan.

The attack, on Sunday, came the day after two US special forces troops were killed in an ambush in the province of Helmand.

There have been a number of incidents in recent days blamed on suspected members of the former Taleban regime and al-Qaeda.

They include the killing of a foreign aid worker and an attack in Kabul on the headquarters of the United Nations peacekeeping force (ISAF).

Helicopters return fire

US army spokesman Colonel Roger King said rebels fired more than a dozen rockets and mortars at its base near the town of Shkin in the province of Paktika, the Associated Press news agency reports.

He said Apache helicopters and an AV-8 Harrier jet had replied by attacking three vehicles believed to be carrying the attackers.

"The initial battle damage assessment was that we killed two individuals associated with these vehicles," Colonel King said.

He said no US soldiers were hurt in the attack.

Afghan authorities in Helmand province say 10 people have been arrested in the hunt for those behind Saturday's fatal ambush on US troops.

"Inquiries are continuing and we will make more arrests," Helmand security chief Dad Mohammad Khan told the AFP news agency.

He said four assailants carried out the attack.

A third US soldier was seriously hurt in the attack.

'Renewed ferocity'

Last Friday a senior Taleban member gave the organisation's first interview since its collapse in December 2001.

Commander Mullah Dadullah gave the interview to the BBC because he said that rising anti-US sentiment in Afghanistan made it an appropriate time to challenge America.

Mullah Dadullah said the Taleban had regrouped under the leadership of their supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, and were now attacking US-led coalition troops with renewed vigour and ferocity.