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Marine, Afghan killed in fighting
(CNN) -- A U.S. Marine and an Afghan soldier have been killed and four other Afghan soldiers have been wounded in fighting in eastern Afghanistan, coalition officials said. The fighting took place northwest of Asadabad in Kunar province on Thursday, according to the Coalition Press Information Center in the Afghan capital of Kabul. In a separate attack Thursday, a roadside bomb hit a military armored vehicle north of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, killing two U.S. soldiers and wounding two others, according to the coalition command in Kabul. (Full story) Also on Thursday the bodies of 17 Spanish soldiers killed in a helicopter crash three days ago in western Afghanistan were being returned home to Spain. The violence and the mounting deaths come during a volatile period in Afghanistan, where U.S. and Afghan forces has been engaged in fierce fighting with Islamic militants ahead of next month's September 18 parliamentary and provincial council elections. The vehicle struck by the explosive had been "part of a convoy operating in the area in support of the Tarin Kowt road construction project," described as "a U.S. effort to build a modern major highway and improve local infrastructure," the coalition said in a statement. The two wounded soldiers were taken to Kandahar Airfield, where they were treated and listed in stable condition. The number of American deaths in the nearly four-year Afghan operation -- dubbed Enduring Freedom -- is now at 227. The operation, which started a month after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, ousted the Taliban government that harbored the al Qaeda terror network responsible for those strikes. Fighting in the country has persisted, particularly along and near the Afghan-Pakistani border, where remnants of the Taliban have endured over the years. Ten U.S. service members have been killed in August, and 16 American troops were killed in late June when a rocket-propelled grenade downed their MH-47 helicopter near Kunar province. CNN's Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman contributed to this report. 
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