4 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Afghanistan

Insurgents killed four U.S. soldiers and wounded three others in separate clashes in Afghanistan Saturday as the war-battered nation celebrated its independence day amid an upsurge in violence.

Three U.S. soldiers were killed and three others wounded during combat operations in Pech district of the eastern Kunar province, said Col. Tom Collins, the U.S. military spokesman. American troops in that area are hunting for Taliban fighters and extremists close to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network in remote mountains hugging the Pakistani border.

A separate attack in southern Uruzgan province killed one U.S. soldier and one Afghan soldier Saturday, said Maj. Quentin Innis, the spokesman for the NATO-led force.

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