The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force has suffered its heaviest loss in Afghanistan in recent months when six NATO soldiers and three Afghan troops were killed in an ambush by insurgents.
In a statement Saturday, ISAF said another eight NATO soldiers and 11 Afghan troops were wounded in the fighting in eastern Nuristan province late Friday.
The statement says the fighting began when insurgents attacked the patrol from multiple positions with rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire.
The Associated Press news agency quotes a senior U.S. military officer, Lt. Col. David Accetta, as saying American soldiers are among the dead and wounded.
Separately, an elderly Afghan civilian was killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up while trying to target NATO's German troops in northern Kunduz province.
In other news, Afghan and NATO forces retook control of Gulistan district in western Farah province from Taliban insurgents, who had seized the area earlier this week.
And Britain announced that one of its soldiers serving in Afghanistan was killed when the vehicle he was traveling in rolled off a bridge during an operation in southern Helmand province.
Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
