Rockets Kill 2 GIs In Afghanistan

8 Others Wounded In Attack On Base In E. Aghanistan

(AP) 
Even though U.S. officials remain upbeat about progress toward peace, there has been a steep rise in bombings, shootings and other killings since spring's warmer weather melted thick snow on mountain passes the rebels use.

But security forces have hit back hard, killing more than 200 suspected rebels since March, according to U.S. and Afghan officials.

A spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, Jawed Ludin, claimed Tuesday that al Qaeda and Taliban rebels launched a violent campaign last week to subvert Sept. 18 legislative elections — the next key step toward democracy three years after U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban for harboring Osama bin Laden.

He said the campaign started with a June 1 suicide bombing in the southern city of Kandahar that killed 20 people and a failed attempt on the same day to down a U.S. military aircraft with a shoulder-launched missile. He said the militants wanted their attacks to create "maximum shock among the people."

On Tuesday, suspected rebels attacked a Pakistani-owned fuel tanker after it delivered gasoline to a U.S. base in the southern Afghan district of Spin Boldak, killing the Pakistani driver and his assistant. Five suspects in the attack were captured Wednesday, police said.

Meanwhile, the Afghan government reported Wednesday that negotiations to free a kidnapped Italian aid worker were "close to a conclusion."

Clementina Cantoni, who works for CARE International, was abducted by armed men on May 16 as she was being driven to her home in the capital, Kabul.

"The negotiations are ongoing ... We are close to a conclusion. We are very optimistic," Interior Ministry spokesman Latfullah Mashal told The Associated Press.

In Rome, Italy's Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said Cantoni is alive and in good health.

Also Wednesday, an Afghan television network aired a two-minute video appeal by Cantoni's mother, Germana — distributed by CARE — appealing for her daughter's safe release.