U.S. Soldier Wounded as Gunmen Ambush Convoy in Afghanistan

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan —  Gunmen ambushed a U.S. Special Forces convoy in eastern Afghanistan and wounded a soldier in the leg, a U.S. Army spokesman said Thursday.

The soldier was riding in one of four pickup trucks Wednesday afternoon near the town of Gardez when as many as six gunmen in civilian clothes shot at the troops with Kalashnikov rifles, Col. Roger King said.

Special Forces soldiers fired back as the convoy drove away. More soldiers later scoured hills around the site but did not find the gunmen.

The soldier, who was hit in the upper left thigh, underwent surgery at a U.S. base nearby. Late Thursday, he was flown to U.S. military headquarters at the Bagram air base, north of Kabul, the capital. He was in stable condition, King said.

The attack was initially blamed on a single sniper, but King later said more people were involved. They appeared to be Afghans, he said.

Also Thursday, King said a major cache of weapons seized north of the central Afghan town of Bamian this week was linked to renegade warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

U.S. troops destroyed or carried away about 15 tons -- three truckloads -- of weaponry and ammunition, which included 107-millimeter rockets, rocket-propelled grenades and two Soviet-made antiaircraft guns, King said.