spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to a CNN stringer in Kabul . Several hours later , at least 10 militants were killed and one detained in an assault on a combat outpost in the province . Insurgents attacked with indirect fire , including multiple rockets and mortars -- at least one of which contained white phosphorous -- small-arms fire and a car bomb , according to a statement from NATO 's International Security Assistance Force -LRB- ISAF -RRB- . Soldiers from ISAF and the Afghan National Army fired back , aided by planes and attack helicopters . No civilian casualties were reported . In other developments in and around Paktika : • On Saturday , a suicide car bomb detonated near a private security company in Lashkar Gah city in Helmand province . One person was killed and five were wounded , said Assadullah Sherzad , Helmand provincial police chief . • The U.S.-led Operation Khanjar , or Strike of the Sword , is targeting Taliban militants in Helmand province , near Paktika in southern Afghanistan . Thousands of U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers are trying to rout the Taliban from strongholds in the Helmand
KABUL , Afghanistan -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Two separate militant assaults Saturday in the southeastern Afghan province of Paktika led to the deaths of two U.S. soldiers and at least 42 insurgents , military officials said . U.S. Marines , under fire from a building , move to take it Saturday in Helmand province , Afghanistan . The soldiers died when Taliban fighters attacked a base in Zerok that houses members of the U.S. military , Afghan national police and Afghan National Army , said the provincial governor 's spokesman , Hamidullah Zawak . He said the Taliban first detonated a truck full of explosives , then attacked the base with missiles and rockets . The military responded by sending in aircraft and dropping bombs , killing 32 Taliban fighters and wounding many , Zawak said , without giving a number . Seven of the wounded Taliban fighters were arrested . Zawak said one U.S. soldier was killed and another wounded . Sgt. Chuck Marsh , however , a U.S. military spokesman , said two U.S. service members were killed and four wounded . Two soldiers from the Afghan National Army were also hurt , Zawak said . A Taliban