Wali said it was not clear who was behind the attack but a Taliban spokesman said their fighters were responsible. "Our mujahideen (holy warriors) killed the soldiers in an ambush," Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
The U.S. military said seven Taliban rebels also died on Thursday during a U.S. helicopter raid in the southeastern province of Khost after five Afghan soldiers were wounded in an ambush. Afghan officials said their forces killed six more Taliban guerrillas after the ambush. A Taliban spokesman said five Taliban fighters died. A U.S. military statement said there were no casualties among U.S.-led forces. Helmand was a bastion of the Taliban until they were driven from power in late 2001 and it is also one of Afghanistan's major drug producing areas. Last week, gunmen killed two Afghan aid workers and stole their vehicle in the province.Wali said the Taliban also killed an Afghan soldier and wounded three others in an attack on their post in a mountainous area near the eastern city of Jalalabad on Friday. Taliban activity has eased over the winter, and U.S.-led forces operating in the south and southeast have kept up the pressure on Afghanistan's vanquished rulers following their failure to disrupt an historic presidential election in October.