'Militants' killed in Afghanistan

US-led forces in Afghanistan say they have killed 15 insurgents who were trying to attack one of their bases in the east of the country.

They said two American soldiers were wounded when their base in Nuristan province was attacked by insurgents.

Separately, a British general heading the Nato forces has said he intends to withdraw British soldiers from a lawless area in Helmand province.

Ten British soldiers have been killed in the area in the past two months.

A spokesperson for the US-led forces said that the militants were killed after they attacked a base in Nuristan with rifle fire and rocket-propelled grenades.

The soldiers responded with small arms fire before calling in air support to bomb the attackers.

Offensive role

Militants have recently stepped up their insurgency against the government and foreign forces, particularly in south and east Afghanistan.

Ten British soldiers have died in Helmand in the past two months

Meanwhile, Lt Gen David Richards, who is leading the Nato forces in southern Afghanistan, has told the BBC that he intends to pull out British soldiers from lawless district centres in Helmand province.

Gen Richards said he plans to replace them with Afghan soldiers to allow British forces to take more of an offensive role.

He said they had faced prolonged intense fighting in the area and compared the intensive warfare to the Korean and Second World Wars.

Last week, Nato forces formally took over control of military operations in southern Afghanistan from the US-led coalition which overthrew the Taleban in 2001.