Coalition troops and warplanes battled militants who attacked a base in south Afghanistan yesterday leaving a US and a Canadian soldier dead along with at least 12 rebels, the military said.
The attack in insurgency-hit Helmand Province was the biggest on a coalition base in months and came about two weeks after the ousted Taliban regime pledged a new spring offensive.
Four coalition troops and an Afghan soldier were also wounded in the firefight that followed the attack by a "significant enemy element" at around 2:30am, a coalition statement said.
The coalition called in close air support to repel the insurgents, who attacked with guns and rocket-propelled grenades in restive Sangin district, the US and Canadian forces said.
"The enemy employed mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and small arms," coalition spokesman Lieutenant Mike Cody said.
"The coalition air support included three 500-pound bombs, two 1,000-pound bombs, high-explosive rockets, guided missiles and incendiary rounds," he said.
The response was "believed to have killed at least a dozen enemy insurgents," the coalition statement said.
"Coalition forces are continuing to pursue enemy forces in this area," Cody said.
Thirteen US troops have now died in hostile action in Afghanistan this year. The Canadian soldier named as Private Robert Costall was the first from his country to die in combat here this year.
Helmand is one of the provinces worst hit by an insurgency launched by the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban after they were removed from government in November 2001 following an attack led by the US.
Sangin has been particularly dangerous for the security forces. Six Afghan soldiers were killed there on Tuesday when a bomb struck their vehicle which burst into flames, southern army corps commander General Rahmatullah Raufi said.
Raufi said the blast was the work of the "enemies of Afghanistan," a term officials frequently use to refer to Taliban militants.
The US has about 19,000 troops in the coalition based mainly in the insurgency-hit south and east.
Canada deployed 2,300 troops to Kandahar Province last month and took command of the coalition forces in the province, the birthplace of the Taliban.
The province is the main producer of Afghanistan's crop of opium, which makes up around 90 percent of the world's supply. Experts have said the Taliban are tied up in the drugs trade, which many believe is funding the insurgency.
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