Ambush Kills GI In Afghanistan

Suspected Insurgents Attack U.S. Troops; Claims U.S. Bombed Town

(AP)  Suspected insurgents ambushed a group of U.S. military engineers on Thursday, killing one U.S. service member and wounding another, the military said. Five U.S. service members have been killed in Afghanistan in the past week.

Militants attacked the engineers' convoy with small-arms and rocket-propelled grenades near a road construction project in eastern Paktika province, the military said in a statement.

The wounded service member was taken to a nearby U.S. base for medical treatment, it said, without giving details of his condition.

Residents of a remote village in southern Afghanistan said Thursday that U.S. warplanes bombed houses during operations against militants this week, killing several civilians and wounding others — including a 1 1/2-month-old baby.

Zabul province Gov. Ali Khail said U.S.-led coalition forces had "made a mistake" during recent operations in the province, but gave no details. "There were some casualties among villagers, but I don't know the exact number of casualties," he said.

The U.S. military, however, denied any civilians had been in the Day Chopan district where the fighting had taken place on Monday. The military said earlier that 18 suspected insurgents and one U.S. service member were killed in the fighting — one of five Americans to die in action in Afghanistan in the past week.

Two villagers spoke to The Associated Press at a hospital in the provincial capital, Qalat, a few hours drive from their home village of Rauf, which they said had been pounded by American forces on Monday night and early Tuesday.

"The children were crying and they were very afraid," said a weeping Sadia Bibi, 50. "These planes killed my relatives. We are poor and innocent people. Why are they killing us?"

Bibi's 20-year-old daughter Najiba Bibi and 1 1/2-month-old grandson were being treated at the hospital for injuries to their hands and legs, which she said had been struck by pieces of brick during the bombing. Both the woman and boy were bandaged.

Bibi claimed her 55-year-old brother, Abdul Shakor, and his wife were killed along with a 16-year-old boy named Matiullah.

A relative who brought the injured to the hospital, Abdul Halim, 35, said his neighbor's house had been bombed, killing a man who lived there.