U.S. soldiers wounded in Afghanistan

Three U.S. soldiers were wounded in Afghanistan when a roadside bomb hit their convoy, while in separate incidents, two U.S. helicopters forced to make hard landings after being fired at, the U.S. military confirmed on Monday.

All of the attacks happened on Sunday in different parts of the restive south.

The United States leads a multinational force of about 20,000 troops hunting Taliban and allied militants in south and southeast Afghanistan.

The three soldiers were wounded near Dai Chopan district in Zabul province, the military said. They were in stable condition.

On the same day, a suicide attack near a convoy of U.S.-led troops in neighbouring Kandahar province killed an Afghan civilian and wounded one member of the U.S.-led force.

The U.S. military also said insurgents had fired at two of their CH-47 Chinook helicopters, which were forced to make hard landings during combat operations.

Five U.S. soldiers were wounded in one of the incidents, in Kandahar province, while an Afghan soldier was hurt in the landing in neighbouring Uruzgan province.

"Both helicopters received enemy fire," Lieutenant Colonel Laurent Fox, a spokesman for the U.S. military, told a news briefing.

He did not elaborate on the type of fire, but said one of the helicopters was destroyed.

Four Chinooks have crashed in Afghanistan in the past six months, killing 56 people, most of them U.S. personnel.

This year has been the bloodiest period for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since they overthrew the Taliban government in 2001, Reuters reports.

V.Y.