US troops quit remote base where 9 troops died, insurgents move in

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
US and Afghan troops have abandoned a remote outpost in eastern Afghanistan where militants killed nine American soldiers earlier this week, officials said Wednesday. Compounding the military setback, insurgents quickly seized the village of Wanat in Nuristan province after driving out the handful of police left behind to defend government offices there, Afghan officials said. Senior provincial police official Ghoolam Farouq said some 50 officers were on their way to the area in a bid to regain control. Sunday's attack by some 200 militants armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars was the deadliest for the US military in Afghanistan in three years. Rebels fought their way into the new base, wounding another 15 Americans and suffering heavy casualties of their own, before the defenders and warplanes could drive them back.