Kabul, Afghanistan ? U.S. troops carrying out an anti-militant offensive fought off a Taliban attack on their mountaintop camp Tuesday, while a roadside blast in the same part of southern Afghanistan left a Romanian soldier dead.

The Americans used machine guns and mortars to repel the attackers in Helmand province’s remote Baghran Valley. U.S. warplanes were called in to bomb a militant hideout, and the American military said a few of the fighters were probably killed.

Local residents said an elderly couple was killed in the air raid.

The clash was the fiercest encountered by troops from the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y., since they were air-dropped on a mountaintop over the weekend to block Taliban supply routes.