By DPA,
Kabul : One US soldier and 12 Taliban militants were killed in a firefight in eastern Afghanistan after Afghan and US forces attacked a clinic where a wounded Taliban commander was seeking medical treatment, officials said Thursday.
Afghan security forces got information that the militants had taken one of their wounded commanders to a clinic in Sar Hawza, a district in the south-eastern province of Paktika Wednesday, Hamidullah Zewak, spokesman for the provincial governor, said.
The Afghan and US forces supported the police, who came under fire from the militants barricaded inside the clinic after they tried to enter the medical facility, he said, adding that 12 militants were killed when US forces conducted an airstrike.
The NATO-led international forces confirmed that their forces used an AH64 Apache helicopter to end the threat “after ensuring the clinic was cleared of civilians”.
The statement said that the insurgent leader was wounded during the Aug 20 elections. The militants conducted more than 130 attacks on election day throughout the country that left more than 30 Afghan civilians and security forces dead.
Although the attacks did not disrupt the elections, they caused a lower turnout in the country’s second direct presidential polls.
The NATO statement did not mention any Taliban casualties in Wednesday’s firefight but said the targeted insurgent leader and six associates were killed.
A US soldier was killed during the firefight, the alliance confirmed.
Taliban militants are most active in the country’s southern and eastern regions, which border Pakistan. The Taliban, who lost power in Afghanistan in a US-led military invasion in late 2001, are widely believed to have moved their command bases into the lawless Pakistani tribal areas.
The US government sent more than 20,000 additional troops to Afghanistan this year to help provide security for last week’s elections and to quell the Taliban-led insurgency.
The latest fighting occurred as Afghanistan awaits election results. President Hamid Karzai is leading in the recently released partial results, but his challengers have accused the incumbent of rigging the vote.
The Independent Election Commission said no further partial results will be available before the weekend.
The final results of the vote are expected around Sep 17.
Allegations of fraud and irregularities could undermine US President Barack Obama’s hopes for a functional Afghan government to tackle the insurgency in the war-shattered country.