U.S. troops chase, kill attackers in Afghanistan
From Mike Mount
CNN Washington Bureau
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Special Forces attacked and killed about 22 suspected Taliban forces in eastern Afghanistan after the convoy they were in was ambushed while on patrol, Pentagon officials said Monday.
The attack on the convoy occurred Saturday near the southeastern town of Spin Boldak, a hotbed of Taliban holdouts leftover after the U.S.-led war to remove the ruling Taliban regime.
U.S. forces pursued their attackers and killed approximately five Taliban soldiers, according to a U.S. Central Command statement.
The chase continued into nearby hills where Special Forces called in Apache attack helicopters for close air support.
The helicopters continued the chase killing 17 to 19 more Taliban while making several passes over a hillside, the statement said.
The statement said there were no deaths or injures to U.S. forces.
The enemy deaths are some of the highest by U.S. forces since the end of the war in 2002.
U.S. forces have remained in Afghanistan hunting pockets of Taliban and pro-Taliban fighters mostly holed up along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Pentagon officials said the United States is narrowing down the locations of these pockets of resistance stretching from the east-central border with Pakistan to the areas around the southeastern town of Spin Boldak.
The attack on the U.S. patrol does not signal a growing threat inside the country against U.S. forces, said a Pentagon official.
"There are minor attacks all the time, but there has been nothing to show that a growing resistance is occurring," the official said.
