A U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan says al-Qaida and Taleban fighters have attacked coalition troops based in eastern Khost province. 

Spokesman Major Bryan Hilferty told reporters at Bagram Air Base near Kabul that terrorists using machine-guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars attacked allied troops late Tuesday, triggering a fire-fight that lasted for several hours. He said he did not know of any casualties among the allied troops and that military authorities are assessing the situation. 

One American soldier was slightly wounded. Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press reported three Afghan allied soldiers were killed and eight wounded, but this could not be independently confirmed. 

Khost borders Paktia province, site of the recent Operation Anaconda offensive, which U.S. officials estimate killed hundreds of al-Qaida and Taleban fighters. 

U.S. officials say those killed in the offensive do not include senior al-Qaida members, and they say many enemy fighters remain on the run. 

U.S. officials said Tuesday 31 people detained in a U.S. raid on a suspicious compound near the southern city of Kandahar Sunday will probably be released after they were found to be neither al-Qaida nor Taleban fighters. 

In another development, aid workers helped more than three thousand internally-displaced Afghan villagers return to their northern mountain homes. The villagers had been staying at the Chimtal refugee camp near the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif after fleeing years of war and drought. 

Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.

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