BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The U.S. military said Taliban and al Qaeda fighters attacked coalition forces in eastern Afghanistan early on Wednesday in a strike highlighting the dangers posed by a mobile, elusive enemy. (Read photo caption below)One U.S. soldier was in a stable condition after being shot in the arm in the overnight attack at an airfield at Khost near the eastern border with Pakistan, U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida, said in a statement.
Khost and the province of the same name borders the area where for three weeks the biggest ground battle of the Afghan war was fought in the rugged mountain terrain around the Shahi Kot Valley in Paktia province.
Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported three Afghan allied soldiers were killed and eight wounded, but this could not be independently confirmed.
U.S. army spokesman Major Bryan Hilferty said the attack started at about midnight and lasted several hours.
"Terrorists using machineguns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars attacked coalition forces in Khost," he told a news conference at Bagram Air Base on the outskirts of Kabul. "We returned fire."
In Washington, Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said an AC-130 gunship was quickly flown to the scene to respond to the attack.
The four-engine turboprop aircraft are capable of pouring withering machinegun and 105mm cannon fire at ground targets.
"We brought in an AC-130. I don't know if other things were used," Clarke told reporters
PHOTO CAPTION:
Canadian troops take up positions during a combat mission in the rugged Shahi Kot mountains in Afghanistan on March 15. REUTERS/Mikhail Metz