The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Kabul/Baghdad

Six U.S. troops and three Afghan soldiers died when insurgents ambushed their foot patrol in eastern Afghanistan, one of the deadliest attacks on American forces this year, officials said Saturday.

The troops were returning from a meeting with village elders Friday afternoon in Nuristan province when militants attacked them with rocket propelled grenades and gunfire, said Lt. Col. David Accetta.

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

Eight more Americans and 11 Afghans were wounded. The 14 total U.S. casualties was the highest number of wounded and killed from a battle in Afghanistan this year, Accetta said.

Mohammad Daoud Nadim, Nuristan deputy police chief, said the ambush happened in the remote province's Waygal district. He said military aircraft fired on enemy positions but had no information on any casualties among the militants.

Baghdad report adds: At least 14 Iraqis were killed and 20 wounded, including policemen, civilians and militants, while two US soldiers were reported killed in separate acts of violence across Iraq, sources said Friday. In Khalis, located in Diyala province, three Iraqi civilians and four gunmen were killed in an armed attack Friday by a group belonging to the al-Qaeda terrorist network, news reports said.

Three civilians were also injured in the attack, independent Voices of Iraq (VOI) news agency reported, citing a police source.

Several villages in the area are still controlled by militants from the al-Qaeda affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq.

Khalis is some 75 kilometres north-east of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Also Friday in Diyala province, four Iraqis were killed and 10 wounded, including policemen, in three separate blasts, VOI reported citing an official security source.

An explosive charge went off in the afternoon in a village in Baquba, killing one civilian and injuring six, the source added.

A similar explosion occurred in the Khanaqin region in north-east Baquba on the border with Iran, killing two border guards and seriously wounding a third.

Also in Khanaqin, an explosive device detonated in the Saadiya area targeting a police patrol, killing a policeman and injuring three, the source said.

Diyala has recently witnessed recurrent acts of violence. Joint Iraqi-US forces had launched the Operation Arrowhead Ripper in Diyala in June in a bid to rid the provincial capital Baquba and other cities of al-Qaeda militants.

In south-west Kirkuk province, 250 kilometres north-east of Baghdad, an Iraqi military officer was killed and three security guards were wounded when an explosive charge exploded targeting his patrol on the road to Riyad region, VOI reported citing an official military source.

In Howayja, also in Kirkuk, at least one policeman was killed and four wounded when a car bomb went off Friday afternoon, targeting a police patrol, VOI reported, quoting a security source.

A medical source said the wounded policemen were in a stable condition.

Meanwhile, the US Defence Department announced Friday the death of two soldiers in separate attacks in Iraq.

Captain Benjamin D Tiffner, 31, of West Virginia, died Wednesday in Baghdad of wounds suffered in a bomb explosion, the US military said.

Sergeant Lui Tumanuvao, 29, of Fagaalu, American Samoa, died Wednesday in the town of Arab Jabour of wounds suffered in another bomb explosion during combat operations. Arab Jabour is just south of Baghdad.

In other news, a ceremony was held in Baghdad Thursday marking the planned release of almost 500 detainees, the US military in Iraq reported Friday.

An average of 50 detainees are being released daily, but only after they are no longer deemed to be an immediate threat to Iraqi and coalition forces and the security of Iraq, the military said.

Some 2,050 prisoners have been freed since the start of the Muslim month of Ramadan in mid-September.

As of Thursday, approximately one third of the detainees have been released, while the remaining two thirds are due to be released within the next several days.

Separately, nine Iranian detainees were released Friday by the multinational forces in Iraq, the US military in Iraq reported.

Witnesses, meanwhile, said Friday US forces backed by helicopters launched a wide-scale crackdown in Baghdad's southern district of Jisr Diyala.