June 08, 2004

By Noor Khan
Associated Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Taliban militants ambushed a convoy of Marines in the mountains of southern Afghanistan Tuesday, sparking a fierce battle that an Afghan official said left 21 rebels dead.
The U.S. military said five Marines and two Afghans were wounded in the clash, which an Afghan governor placed in Daychopan district of Zabul province, some 190 miles southwest of Kabul.

“The battle occurred as the Marines and Afghan fighting forces approached a site identified as a likely ambush site. As Marines advanced an intense firefight ensued,” said Capt. Eric Dent, a Marine Corps spokesman.

Dent said in an e-mailed statement that four enemy fighters were captured — two of them wounded in the battle — and several killed, but gave no exact death toll.

The five wounded Marines were in stable condition, he said. The injured Afghans were a soldier and an interpreter.

Jan Mohammed Khan, the governor of neighboring Uruzgan province said the convoy was ambushed by a group of more than 100 Taliban in a mountainous area called Sharaboz Kothal.

He said U.S. jets and warplanes joined the fray, scattering the insurgents.