KANDAHAR, Afghanistan -- Five Afghan government soldiers were killed and two American soldiers wounded in a series of attacks in south and east Afghanistan, officials said on Monday.

Commander Haji Grony said five Afghan soldiers were killed and five wounded when their car was hit by a rocket or rocket-propelled grenade fired by Taleban rebels in the Shah Wali Kot district of the southern province of Kandahar on Sunday.

Thirteen Taleban suspects were arrested after the incident, he told Reuters, without giving any more details, Reuters reported.

An American soldier was shot in the right leg during an exchange of fire with "enemy forces" near the Shkin base in southeastern Paktika Province on Sunday, close to the Pakistani border, the U.S. military said.

Another was shot in the arm in a gun battle at the Bari Kowt base in eastern Kunar Province, Colonel Rodney Davis told reporters at Bagram Air Base, the headquarters of the U.S.-led forces hunting for Taleban and Al-Qaeda suspects.

The attacks were the latest in a wave of violence largely blamed on the ousted Taliban militia, and came on the same day U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited Afghanistan.

There are around 12,500 U.S. and allied troops combing Afghanistan for members of the fundamentalist Taliban militia as well as members of the Al-Qaeda network of Osama bin Laden.

Grony said the Afghan soldiers were part of a 150-strong force combing the area for Taleban and allied rebels.