Kabul, Afghanistan ? U.S. airstrikes and ground troops killed 12 insurgents who had attacked a coalition patrol in eastern Afghanistan’s border region in the latest wave of fighting with Taliban-led rebels, the U.S. military said Sunday.

The United Nations called for Afghan human rights investigators to be allowed into Bagram, the main U.S. base in Afghanistan, after the New York Times reported poorly trained U.S. soldiers there had repeatedly abused prisoners.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, on the eve of his meeting today with President Bush in Washington, said he was angry about the reported abuse and called for more Afghan control over the operations of the 16,700 U.S. troops in his country as well as punishment for any U.S. soldiers who mistreat prisoners.

Also on Sunday, an Afghan government spokesman said a kidnapped Italian aid worker, Clementina Cantoni, was alive and healthy and that Afghan officials were in contact with her kidnappers to secure her release. The announcement came two days after reports quoting the purported kidnapper as saying he had killed her because the government did not agree to his demands.

Saturday’s fighting in eastern Paktika province left one U.S. soldier slightly wounded. Spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O’Hara said rebels had sneaked across the border from Pakistan and had opened fire on American and Afghan forces.

Pakistani military spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said shells from the fighting landed in Pakistan, and that no one was hurt there. But a Pakistani intelligence official in the area said on condition of anonymity that villagers had retrieved the bodies of five unidentified men.