Ground Report

Six American soldiers and three Afghan soldiers were killed Friday when Taliban miltants ambushed and opened gunfire on them in eastern Afghanistan, NATO officials said Saturday. United States forces are operating in Nuristan Province, where the ambush took place, as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. “It was a complex ambush by machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades that were fired from at least two different positions,” said Lt. Col. David Acceta, spokesman for ISAF and the United States military. The ambush took place in Arnis, a village in the Waygal district, said Muhammad Dawood Nadim, deputy police chief of Nuristan Province. Colonel Acceta said the troops were on foot returning from a meeting with village elders. Eight American soldiers and 11 Afghan soldiers were wounded in the attack, NATO said. The  latest ambush is the deadliest incident for American soldiers in Afghanistan since a Chinook helicopter crash in southern Zabul Province in February killed eight Americans.