US marine killed by 'Taliban'

2004-05-08 21:17

Kabul - A US Marine was killed and another injured in a firefight in southern Afghanistan with suspected fighters from the ousted Taliban regime, a US military spokesperson said on Saturday.

The troops came under attack in Tirin Kot area of insurgency-hit Uruzgan province overnight, Colonel Tucker Mansager told reporters.

"Coalition forces have reported coming under attack overnight south of Tirin Kot. One US Marine was killed and one wounded," he said.

"The name of the Marine who was killed will be held pending notification of the next of kin," he said.

Mansager gave no other details about the incident.

About 2 700 Marines with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit were deployed to Afghanistan in April to bolster the US-led force's campaign to stamp out Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants engaged in a guerrilla insurgency against government and foreign troops.

The Marines set up a new base last week in Uruzgan, a few kilometres (miles) from the Tirin Kot, the provincial capital.

Mansager did not say if this was the first Marine be killed from the April deployment.

His death brought to 112 the number of US soldiers killed in Afghanistan since late 2001 in combat and accidents, according to US figures.

One of the last US soldiers to die in Afghanistan was former football star Pat Tillman, who was killed April 22 in an ambush in southeastern Khost province.

Tillman turned down a multi-million dollar contract to become a $18 000-a-year Army Ranger after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

On Tuesday, a US soldier was killed in a road accident north of Kabul.

The deployment of the marines brings to 15 500 the number of troops in the US-led coalition in Afghanistan, now at its highest level since the start of the operation in late 2001.

- AFP