U.S. and Afghan troops have left an isolated village in eastern Afghanistan where militants murdered nine U.S. soldiers and injured a dozen more on Sunday, officials said on Wednesday.

According to BBC, a statement informed that the base had been provisional and that customary patrols in the region would be upheld. However, local authorities announced that Afghan police continued to struggle against rebels after the pullout on Tuesday.

The assault generated the biggest American loss of life in clashes in Afghanistan since operations began seven years ago. Moreover, NATO says that the insurgents also experienced serious casualties. In spite of the fact that it did not specify who the attackers were, there has been an acute upsurge in Taleban assaults in the country, especially in that area, although other rebel groups are also known to conduct operations there.

On Sunday, approximately 200 rebels armed with machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars assailed the small combat outpost in the village of Wanat on the border of Nuristan and Kunar regions. The base had only been built days before it was hit.

NATO’s International Security Assistance Force proclaimed that the site had now been “disestablished”, but added that the territory would not be left unprotected.

Omar Sami, spokesman for the Nuristan provincial governor, said that American and Afghan soldiers abandoned the base on Tuesday afternoon, accompanied by the district mayor. Omar Sami said U.S. troops provided local police with more than 20 guns before their departure.

Taliban-connected militants generally try to take over remote districts in their attempt to bring down the government. They are said to direct a few regions in the hazardous south.