ATLANTA -- Two soldiers from Georgia were among nine killed in an insurgent raid that penetrated an American outpost in eastern Afghanistan over the weekend, the Pentagon announced Wednesday.

Corporal Jonathan R. Ayers, 24, of Snellville, and Cpl. Matthew B. Phillips, 27, of Jasper, were among those killed in the deadliest incident for U.S. forces in Afghanistan since June 2005, when 16 American soldiers were killed as a rocket-propelled grenade shot down their helicopter.

Ayers, 24, died Sunday in the northeastern province of Kunar, where militants launched one of the deadliest attacks on U.S. troops since the 2001 invasion.

Ayers and his comrades were completing work on a new U.S. base in a remote, mountainous region bordering Pakistan, said his father, Bill Ayers.

They were assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team based in Vicenza, Italy.

Their newly built outpost in Wanat was attacked before dawn by small arms fire and rocket propelled grenades.

A former provincial governor in the region said scores of attackers included a mix of Afghan- and Pakistan-based militants, some with al-Qaida links.

A NATO official said they used houses, shops and a mosque for cover during the hours-long battle before American soldiers managed to drive out the attackers and call in air support from attack helicopters.

The official said dozens were killed and about 40 were wounded.