KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. troops fought a gunbattle with three suspected rebels on the outskirts of the Afghan capital, the U.S. military said Sunday. One American solder was slightly wounded and an insurgent was captured.
The firefight occurred Saturday near a training center for the Afghan army in the northeast part of Kabul (search), the U.S. military said in a statement from Bagram Air Base, the military headquarters north of the capital.
It said the U.S. troops were observing a training exercise at the center when insurgents attacked them. The American troops returned fire and called for backup from the International Security Assistance Force (search), a 5,500-strong NATO-led peacekeeping mission charged with keeping the peace in Kabul.
The rebels fled into a nearby building before one of them was captured, the statement said. It did not say what happened to the two other attackers.
The name of the wounded U.S. soldier was not released. He returned to duty after being treated.
Taliban (search) and Al Qaeda rebels have been launching increasingly bold assaults in recent months, raiding police stations, killing aid workers and confronting U.S. troops in growing numbers.
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