U.S. Soldier Shot in Leg in Western Afghanistan

BAGRAM, Afghanistan – A U.S. soldier was shot in the leg during an attack on a patrol in western Afghanistan, a military spokesman said Friday.

The Special Forces soldier was injured Thursday night when his reconnaissance team came under small arms fire 23 miles southeast of the town of Shindand. The U.S. unit returned fire and then called for a medical evacuation. No arrests were made.

The soldier, who was hit in the lower right leg, was airlifted to the U.S. base in Kandahar and was in stable condition, said Col. Roger King, the spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan.

Four weapons and ammunition caches were recovered Thursday, including one near the eastern city of Jalalabad that contained 20 rifles, machine gun ammunition, anti-personnel mines and plastic explosives.

A tip from an Afghan villager near the central town of Bamiyan led Special Forces to uncover one cache, which included 245 107-mm rockets, 230 82-mm mortar rounds, 6,000 rounds of machine gun ammunition, 650 82-mm anti-tank rifle rounds and 160-mm mortar rounds. The cache was destroyed.

Other caches were found Thursday in Spinboldak, in Kandahar province, and near Gardez, near the capital Kabul.