Two US soldiers and an Afghan soldier were wounded in Tuesday’s battle in the remote province of Nuristan which borders Pakistan, Colonel Tom Collins told a press conference in Kabul.

“There was a significant coalition engagement yesterday in Nuristan, in which enemy extremists attacked our forces with rockets and rifle fire,” Collins said.

“Through the actions of our forces on the ground and the use of air support we killed 12 enemy extremists,” Collins said.

He gave no further details about the wounded soldiers.

Nuristan is one of the provinces where Taliban-led militants are most active. It is a wooded mountainous area where they find it easy to hide.

Despite being toppled from power five years ago by the coalition, remnants of the Taliban regime have stepped up a deadly insurgency targeting foreign troops as well as the Afghan government.

The coalition is due to hand over control of operations in eastern Afghanistan to NAT0-led forces later this year. NATO assumed command in the troubled south last week.