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By Robert Birsel
Kabul - United States-led forces bombed Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan on Sunday after two British soldiers and their Afghan interpreter were killed in an attack on a base.
The US-led force has in recent weeks launched a major offensive in the volatile south aimed at stemming the worst Taliban violence since the hardline Islamists were ousted in 2001 for refusing to give up Osama bin Laden.
The attack on the base came as Nato prepares to take over security responsibilities from the US-led force in the south in what looks set to be the alliance's toughest ever ground mission.
A helicopter also crashed on Sunday near the main foreign military base outside the southern city of Kandahar but there was no immediate word on casualties, military officials said.
A US military official who declined to be identified said details were sketchy and he did not know what type of helicopter it was or how many people were on board, but the aircraft had not been shot down.
A spokesperson for the US-led coalition in Kandahar declined to comment, saying information would be released on Monday.
The two British soldiers were killed on Saturday night in the Sangin district of the southern province of Helmand, where more than 3 000 British troops are based.
A spokesman for Britain's Ministry of Defence said the two were killed when their camp was attacked by men using small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. Four British soldiers were wounded in the attack on the base in Sangin town.
A Taliban commander, Mullah Rahim Rahmani, said by telephone his men had launched the attack.
British forces were deployed to Helmand this year but are facing stiffer resistance than expected. Five British soldiers have been killed in recent weeks, two in Sangin last Tuesday.
More than 1 100 people, most of them militants, have been killed in Afghanistan since January. About 50 foreign troops have been killed.
Helmand provincial police chief Nabi Mullahakhail said aircraft from the US-led coalition launched four bombing raids against the Taliban in the area on Sunday killing nine insurgents.
The Afghan Defence Ministry said 12 Taliban gathering for an attack were killed in fighting with Afghan troops in Sangin on Saturday night. It was not immediately clear if those insurgents were responsible for the attack on the British base.
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