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6 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Afghanistan Mountain Ambush

By JASON STRAZIUSO, The Associated Press

Published: November 11, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan - Militants ambushed and killed six U.S. troops walking in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan - the most lethal attack in a year that has been the deadliest for the U.S. military here since the 2001 invasion.

The number of U.S. deaths in Afghanistan this year mirror the record toll in Iraq.

Both conflicts have seen an increase in troops this year that has put more soldiers in harm's way, including those killed Friday returning from a meeting with village elders in Nuristan province. Militants fired rocket propelled grenades killed six U.S. and three Afghan soldiers. Eight U.S. troops were wounded.

"They were attacked from several enemy positions at the same time," Lt. Col. David Accetta, spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force and U.S. military, said Saturday. "It was a complex ambush."

The six deaths brings the number of U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan this year to at least 101, according to an Associated Press count, surpassing 93 killed in 2005. About 87 died last year. The toll echoes the situation in Iraq, where U.S. military deaths this year surpassed 850, also a record.

Launched in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Afghanistan war ousted al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and his Taliban protectors and appeared to be a swift military victory. But insurgent attacks - ambushes and suicide and roadside bombs - have risen sharply the past two years. Analysts say the counterinsurgency battle U.S. and NATO forces face will take a decade or more to win.

Bush administration critics say the Pentagon turned attention from Afghanistan in the buildup to the Iraq invasion, leaving the military with too few resources here to back up the initial victory with an adequate security presence.

Insurgents have made more than 130 suicide attacks, a record. In the deadliest since 2001, a suicide bomb in Baghlan province last week killed 75, including six parliament members and 59 students.

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