1 killed, 2 captured by Coalition troops in southeast Afghanistan: US spokesman

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, April 04, 2004

1 killed, 2 captured by Coalition troops in southeast Afghanistan: US spokesman

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The United States-led coalition forces in its latest round of hunt against suspected terrorists inpost-Taliban Afghanistan on Wednesday killed one suspected Talibanand captured two others in southeast Khost Province, a US militaryofficial said Saturday.

"Anti-coalition militia on Wednesday threw several grenades at a coalition convoy in south of Khost but our soldiers fired back killing one and captured two of the enemy's forces," spokesman Bryan Hilferty told reporters at a routine briefing.

The incident, he said, caused no injuries or damage to the coalition soldiers.

However, he confirmed the wounding of a US soldier in the same province on the same day by hostile fire.

"A US soldier from First Battalion of First Parachute Infantry Regiment was on patrol south of Khost when he was shot and injuredWednesday," added the official.

"We chased the attacker but did not detain him," he further said.

The first attack, he said, was about noon and the second one took place a couple of hours later.

Since the ongoing operation of "Mountain Storm" launched on March 7, according to the US ranking officer, around 20 Taliban suspects have been killed and dozens others captured.

The spokesman rejected the reported use of depleted Uranium bombs by US forces in the ongoing war on terror in Afghanistan by saying "I do not think to use uranium here."

"We do have rounds used depleted uranium but not for artillery.They are for tanks and A-10 planes while we do not have American tanks here," maintained the military spokesman.

According to media reports emanating from the US, Pentagon has been using depleted uranium bombs in both Iraq and Afghanistan to eliminate its enemies and consolidate its grip there.

The Taliban-sponsored insurgency has been on the rise for the last several months and only during the past month around 15 persons including two US soldiers were killed in south Afghanistan.

Dismissing the notion as unfounded, the US top brass said "we do think the enemy forces are getting increasingly dispersed. Theyare running out of ammunitions and they are running out of popularsupport."

Source: Xinhua

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