Nine International Security Assistance Force soldiers were killed and 15 more wounded in continued fighting in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province, reported dpa.
The fighting began Sunday as "a well-organized attack, ... a ferocious attack" by insurgents against a combat outpost of the Afghan Naitonal Army and the ISAF said Captain Mike Finney, ISAF spokesman in Afghanistan.
The NATO-led ISAF troops however prevented the militants from over running the outpost, he said, adding that rebel casualties were in the "high double figures."
ISAF did not reveal the nationalities of its soldiers killed.
Meanwhile, the Islamist extremist Taliban claimed they abducted Afghan Senator Abul Wali in Charkh district of Logar province on Sunday, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told Deutsche Presse- Agenture dpa.
"Abul Wali is with us now, he is fine and healthy, and we will announce our decision about his fate later," the spokesman said.
Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Zamarai Bashari confirmed the kidnapping, saying that around 7 am (0230 GMT) Sunday gunmen disarmed Wali's bodyguards and spirited him away "to an unknown location."
In other developments, six Afghan guards were killed and two wounded by a roadside bomb while escorting a supply ISAF convoy in the Geresh district of southern Helmand province, officials said. dpa jp mga