5 Fort Carson Soldiers Injured In Afghanistan

An attack Thursday by Taliban forces in Afghanistan left one man dead and seven others injured, including five Fort Carson soldiers, an Army spokesman confirmed.

The injured soldiers are members of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team. Maj. Kevin Toner, a spokesman for the unit, did not identify the soldiers but said they were hurt Thursday afternoon in the U.S. compound at Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar province.

Toner said the soldiers, along with an Afghan soldier and an American civilian contractor, are expected to recover from their injuries. An Afghan interpreter died in the attack, Toner said.

In providing details of the attack, Toner said Taliban forces used small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades on coalition forces in the camp from a three-story building nearby.

The four-hour battle ended, he said, when a coalition helicopter fired a guided missile into the third floor. Toner said the number of Taliban forces involved in the attack is unclear.

Toner said the Taliban rigged the building with explosives and placed two improvised explosive devices in vehicles that exploded outside the building where the enemy was, but the explosions caused no injuries. American forces fought back with machine gun fire from guard towers, Toner said.

Toner said the attack could have been part of a wider offensive against the camp.

”It seemed they had something bigger planned,” he said.

Some military experts say attempts to breach American base defenses have been a key Taliban tactic in the ongoing war, and that similar attacks have occurred in Kabul and in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces.

Thursday’s attack is one of the largest by the Taliban against the brigade since it arrived in Afghanistan last June.