U.S. troops exchanged fire with opposing forces in southern Afghanistan twice at the weekend and called in air support in one incident, but there were no casualties, the U.S. military said on Monday. U.S. military spokesman Colonel Roger King said the exchanges happened in the Deh Rawud area of Uruzgan province on Saturday and Sunday nights, the same region where U.S. warplanes killed dozens of people celebrating a wedding in July.

The incidents marked rare direct contact with enemy forces for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, which has been pursuing remnants of the former Taliban regime and the al Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden . Washington blames al Qaeda for the attacks on the United States last year.

King said that in the first incident, soldiers from the 82nd airborne division surprised a three-man unit setting up a rocket aimed at the U.S. base at Deh Rawud. He said there was an exchange of gunfire before the three men fled.

King said U.S. special forces then disabled the rockets and picked up two AK-47 assault rifles.

In the second incident, at 10 p.m. (1730 GMT) on Sunday, U.S. special forces camped out for the night exchanged fire with another two men.

"Small arms fire was exchanged between the forces," King said. "The two-man enemy probe broke contact and the soldiers were unable to locate them."

King said two A-10 ground attack aircraft were scrambled from the main U.S. base at Bagram to provide close air support, but were not needed. "There were no friendly or enemy casualties -- it was only a matter of a few rounds being exchanged." King said.

Deh Rawud was the site of a July incident in which an American helicopter gunship fired on a wedding party, killing 48 people and wounding 117, according to Afghan government figures.

King also said that coalition forces destroyed a cache of ammunition near Shindand in western Afghanistan on Sunday.

He said the arms, found on Wednesday, consisted on 75 107-mm rockets, 700 82-mm mortar rounds, 50 23 mm-high explosive anti-aircraft rounds and 5,500 12.7-mm machinegun rounds.

Shindand, the location of a strategic Soviet-era airbase, has been the scene of clashes in recent months between forces loyal to the governor of Herat province Ismail Khan and rival warlord Amanullah Khan.

PHOTO CAPTION

An Afghan boy walks by the barbed wire as he ruturns from school Monday, Oct. 28, 2002. Daily life has improved in Afghanistan after more than 23 years of occupation and civil war but many still face severe poverty and poor health. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)