World

NATO Soldiers Killed In Afghan Ambush

October 14, 2006 / 9:04 AM EDT / CBS/AP

Two NATO soldiers were killed Saturday in southern Afghanistan after militants ambushed them with rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire, the alliance said.

An Italian freelance photographer and his assistant, meanwhile, were abducted by armed men in southern Helmand province, an Afghan official said.

In eastern Afghanistan, a roadside bomb exploded outside a provincial governor's compound — the third attack in five weeks against a provincial leader. The governor of the eastern Laghman province was not hurt but another official was killed, police said.

Canada's defense department identified the dead NATO solders as Canadian but did not release their names. NATO said three soldiers were wounded in the battle in Kandahar province, while Canada said two were wounded. The cause of the discrepancy was not immediately clear.

The soldiers were working on a road that would offer safer passage from the volatile Panjwaii district to Kandahar, Canada's defense department said in a statement.

Militants have been stepping up attacks in Afghanistan the last several months, particularly in the southern and eastern regions near the border with Pakistan.

In other developments:

At least three police officers and three suspected Taliban died in clashes between in eastern Afghanistan, officials said Sunday. Police shot dead two suspected militants on a motorbike who attacked their patrol in the eastern Paktika province on Sunday, said Sayeed Jamal, the spokesman for the province's governor.

A three-hour clash with militants in neighboring Khost province late on Saturday left three police dead, one missing and two wounded, said Gen. Mohammed Ayub, Khost's police chief. One Taliban was killed in the clash near the border with Pakistan, Ayub said. Militants used rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns during the attack, Ayub said.

On Sunday, remote controlled bomb targeting Americans training Afghan police killed two civilian passers-by and wounded another in western Herat province. The American were not injured, police said.

In Khandahar province, a suicide car bomb exploded near an Afghan army convoy, injuring three soldiers, said Dawood Ahmadi, the governor's spokesman.

Six Afghan policemen died after a roadside bomb hit their convoy Friday in eastern Afghanistan, said Gen. Anan Roufi, the police chief of Paktia province. The explosion happened in Jaji district, near the border with Pakistan.

An Army Special Forces soldier died of combat-related injuries sustained in Afghanistan. Chief Warrant Officer Scott W. Dyer, of Titusville, Fla., died Wednesday in Banditemur, Afghanistan. He was an assistant detachment commander assigned to the Third Battalion, Third Special Forces Group out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina and deployed in August.

Other Canadian units responded to the attack and became involved in a three-hour battle with insurgents, and NATO helicopters also were called in, the statement said.

Counting the latest fatalities, 42 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002.

The photographer, Gabriele Torsello, and his Afghan translator were abducted as they were driving from Lashkar Gah, the capital of the southern Helmand province, toward neighboring Kandahar, an Afghan official in Helmand said.

The two were in their car when they were abducted, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

NATO-led peacekeepers said they were checking the report, but had no confirmation.

The governor of the eastern Laghman province escaped injury after someone placed a bomb hidden in a plastic bag in an irrigation ditch opposite his compound, said Khalil Rahmani, deputy provincial police chief. It was detonated by remote control as the governor was arriving by car. About a dozen suspects were later arrested, Rahmani said.

Gov. Gulab Mangal said it was the second assassination attempt against him in the last couple months.

"It is clear that whoever tries to do good work for the people of Afghanistan, they will try to kill him," Mangal said. "A clear example of this is Abdul Hakim Taniwal."

Taniwal, the former governor of Paktia province, was killed in early September by a suicide bomber. The governor of Helmand also was apparently targeted late last month when a suicide bomber attacked his compound, missing him but killing 18 people.

"It is difficult to prevent such attacks, especially against the governors, because governors cannot sit still in their offices," Mangal said. "All the time they need to go out and meet with the people, hear about their problems and find solutions for them."