KABUL, May 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Twelve insurgents were killed Saturday night when they attacked a US-led coalition force in Afghan southeastern province of Paktika, US military said Sunday. 

    A group of four insurgents crossed the border into Afghanistan from Pakistan and attacked a US patrol with small arms near the eastern city of Gayan, Paktika province.

    The insurgents fled the area and met up with a group of eight other individuals after US forces fired back. Twelve insurgents were killed when US warplanes responded to the attack, and one US soldier wounded.

    Taliban remnants and other militants raised another surge of attacks on the military and civilian targets with the onset of spring, weakening the assumption that Taliban might be running out of resources.

    A Turkman was kidnapped when Taliban militants attacked a convoy of trucks passing by Afghan southern province of Zabul on Saturday night.

    One US soldier was killed and three others injured on Saturday night in a bomb blast in Afghan southern province of Zabul.

    The death bought to 144 the number of US troops killed in and around Afghanistan since Operation Enduring Freedom began in 2001. 

    The latest attack happened amid the trip by Afghan president Hamid Karzai to the United States, in which leaders of the two countries will discuss the US continued support to the post-war Afghanistan and the torture of Afghan detainees in US custody. Enditem