NATO troops, Afghan soldiers killed in ambush

Taliban insurgents killed six troops from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and three Afghan soldiers in an ambush in eastern Afghanistan, an ISAF spokesman said yesterday.

It was the heaviest loss suffered by ISAF troops in Afghanistan in three months and comes as Afghan and international troops are engaged in daily battles across the length and breadth of the country to contain the spreading Taliban insurgency.

"I have sad news to report from regional command east where six ISAF soldiers and three Afghan army were killed by Taliban insurgents in an ambush yesterday," Brigadier General Carlos Branco told a news conference in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

Eight ISAF troops and 11 Afghan soldiers were also wounded in the fighting, which began on Friday when insurgents ambushed their patrol with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire as the troops were returning from a meeting with local elders.

Most ISAF troops based in the east of the country are American, but the force is withholding confirmation of the nationalities of the dead soldiers pending notification of next of kin.