3 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan

Militants launched rocket-propelled grenades at a U.S. patrol in northeastern Afghanistan, killing three soldiers before American forces repelled the assault with artillery fire, an official said Saturday.

A British soldier was killed in a vehicle accident in the south.

The clash in Nuristan province's Waygal district on Friday also wounded three U.S. soldiers and one civilian as American forces kept up their hunt for Taliban fighters and extremists close to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network that are holed up in remote mountains hugging the Pakistani border.

"We mourn their loss but their work continues," Collins said, referring to the three slain soldiers. "We will honor them by continuing our mission to pursue extremist wherever they are," he added. He did not say whether the militants suffered any casualties.

In recent weeks, U.S. forces have been pushing to their northernmost points along the mountainous Afghan-Pakistan border, including Nuristan, opening military bases in one of the wildest regions in the country.

Their mission is to crush militants loyal to the Hezb-e-Islami militant group of renegade Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the toppled Taliban regime and remnants of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

A NATO-led British soldier was killed in a vehicle accident in the southern Helmand province on Saturday, a British Defense Ministry spokesman said.

The soldier, who was not identified pending next-of-kin notification, was killed "in an accident involving a British military vehicle undergoing routine maintenance at a UK base in northern Helmand," the spokesman said. The accident will be investigated.

The death brought to 19 the number of British forces killed since they deployed to Afghanistan in November 2001. More than 3,000 NATO-led British troops are hunting Taliban fighters throughout Helmand, one of Afghanistan's most violent provinces.

Elsewhere in Helmand, three Estonian soldiers were wounded when militants attacked their unit, apparently with anti-aircraft guns, the Estonian military said.

A helicopter transported two of the wounded soldiers from a camp of the Estonian contingent in Garmser district to a hospital at the nearby British military base, while one received first aid from members of his unit, the military said in a statement.

Separately, a highway police commander was killed by a blast on his way to work in eastern Lagman province, said Interior Ministry spokesman Yousef Stanezai.

Gunmen also killed the former deputy governor of southeastern Ghazni province, Abdul Hakim, outside his home late Friday, the provincial spokesman said.

Hakim's death followed a March ambush by militants that killed Ghazni's former governor and four others.

Also in Ghazni, a roadside bomb killed two civilians and injured another late Friday, the spokesman said.

An explosion also occurred outside a NATO base in Kabul early Saturday, but no one was injured, said Maj. Toby Jackman, spokesman for the NATO-led force. It was unclear what caused the blast.

Afghanistan has seen a surge in violence this year, particularly in the south, where rebel supporters of the toppled Taliban regime have stepped up attacks, as Afghan and NATO-led troops try to drive insurgents out of their safe havens.

The fighting has been the bloodiest since the Taliban were ousted in late 2001. In a two-month offensive in the south that ended at the start of August, the coalition claimed to have killed, wounded or captured, some 1,100 militants.

But, Tom Koenigs, the top U.N. official in Afghanistan, told the German news weekly Der Spiegel that the numbers do not reflect success.

"The Taliban fighters' reservoir is practically limitless," Koenigs told the magazine in an interview. "The movement will not be overcome by high casualty figures."