Two US soldiers were killed and several other US and Afghan soldiers were wounded in a clash with unknown attackers in southeast Afghanistan, the US military said. The attack took place on Friday morning near a rocket launch site previously used by Afghan forces east of Fire Base Shkin near the Pakistan border in Paktika province 230 kilometers (140 miles) south of Kabul, a US military statement said.

A coalition platoon was attacked by "approximately 20 enemy personnel" while investigating a report of suspicious activity near the launch site.

The attackers fled across the border into Pakistan when reinforcements arrived.

In Washington, General Richard Myers, head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said two US soldiers were killed in the gun battle and a number of US and Afghan soldiers were killed.

US forces estimated that at least three of the attackers were killed in the exchange of fire.

Myers told a press briefing: "We engaged the enemy from the ground and from the air, and we continue to look for them."

Two F-16 Fighting Falcons, two US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt tank busters and two AH-64 Apache attack helicopters responded to provide air support, according to the US military.

The names of the US casualties were not immediately given.

Four US soldiers and two foreign civilians have been killed in Afghanistan in the past four weeks.

Nearly 18 months after the fall of the Taliban, remnants of the militia and their al-Qaeda allies continue to launch regular attacks on foreign and government targets.

Shkin base has come under frequent attack from suspected Taliban and al-Qaeda, with at least two rocket attacks on the base this week alone.

A US-led coalition of more than 10,000 soldiers is currently hunting down Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants in the south and east of Afghanistan.

PHOTO CAPTION

Soldiers from the Afghan national army aim their rifles during a training exercise. US and Afghan soldiers were wounded in a clash with unknown attackers in southeast Afghanistan. (AFP/File/Shah Marai)