2 US soldiers wounded in Taliban sniper attack

KABUL insurgents in the Jalrez district of central Maidan Wardak province, officials said Wednesday.

Col. Martin O’Donnell, US forces Afghanistan spokesman, told Pajhwok Afghan News the clash took place on the outskirts of Jalrez district center on Monday.

He said Afghan and US forces were on a patrol in the area when they came under attack from Taliban snipers hiding in a building previously used as school.

“A dismounted, Afghan-led and US-advised patrol was engaged by a three-man, Taliban sniper team in Jalrez district on July 15,” he said.

O’Donnell added: “The patrol, acting in self-defense, directed a strike against the sniper team who was firing upon from a vacant building, a former school.  Two US service members were injured in the incident.”

On the other hand, Maidan Wardak governor’s spokesman, Abdul Rahman Mangal, also confirmed the incident and said the Taliban militants fired on the US forces from an agriculture school in Ziolat area.

He said two US forces were injured in the incident but militants also suffered casualties and the building was partially destroyed in retaliatory attack.

Civilians suffered no casualties in the incident, Mangal said.

Sharifullah Hottak, a provincial council member, on his Facebook page wrote that the agriculture school building consumed a high amount of money but it was destroyed in an airstrike.

The Taliban have not yet commented on the incident.

mds/ma

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