KABUL - A US soldier was killed when suspected militants ambushed his unit while it was on patrol in southern Afghanistan, the military said Wednesday.
The soldier, whose name was not released, was killed on Tuesday while on patrol northeast of Deh Rawood, one of the most troubled districts in southcentral Uruzgan province, the military said in a statement.
"The soldier was medically evacuated to the forward surgical team in Tarin Kowt where he was pronounced dead by medical personnel."
"His remains were transported to Kandahar airfield for movement back to the United States," it said referring to the main US-led military base in southeastern Afghanistan.
No other coalition or Afghan troops were injured in the ambush.
A memorial ceremony was held this morning at Kandahar airfield, the statement said adding that the name of the deceased was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.
The statement did not provide any details of the attack. However militants from the ousted Taliban regime have increased their attacks on US and Afghan troops over recent weeks.
The casualty comes less than one week after a Romanian soldier, also attached to the 18,000-strong US-led coalition force was killed and another was wounded when a suspected bomb hit their vehicle in Kandahar province.
The insurgency-hit Deh Rawood is located in the mountainous central Afghanistan region where militants from the ousted Taliban regime regularly attack US and Afghan forces.
Deh Rawood, some 448 kilometers (280 miles) southwest of the capital Kabul, was the scene of heavy clashes between US and insurgents last weekend in which two US and two Afghan soldiers were injured.
The latest casualty brought to 23 the number of US soldiers killed in Afghanistan, including 15 American troops who died in a helicopter crash on April 6 in southern Ghazni province.
Three American civilians were also killed in the crash, one of the worst air accidents since the US-led military was deployed in Afghanistan to topple Taliban regime in late 2001.
The coalition force dominated by some 16,000 American troops are in Afghanistan to hunt down remnants of the Taliban including their fugitive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and militants from the Al-Qaeda terror network of Osama bin Laden.
Attacks on foreign and government forces have increased in recent weeks with the end of the Afghan winter.
The recent violence has claimed more than 50 lives, many of them suspected Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants.
04/27/2005 09:39 GMT