Wire: Afghan Insurgents Kill 4 US Marines in Ambush

Off the Wire:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2009 -- Newswire services this afternoon reported that four U.S. Marines died Tuesday when they walked into an ambush by insurgents in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province. Seven Afghan troops and an interpreter for the Marine commander also died in the ambush and the subsequent battle, which lasted seven hours.

Three American service members and 14 Afghan security force members were wounded, according to a McClatchy Newspapers report.

McClatchy said it was the largest number of American military trainers to die in a single incident since the start of the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

The battle took place near Gangigal, in a valley about six miles from the Pakistani border, after local elders invited the U.S. and Afghan forces for a meeting.

American officers said there was no doubt that they'd walked into a trap, as the insurgents were dug in at the village, and had preset their weapons and their fields of fire McClatchy said.

(Report from newswire sources.)

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