Afghan raid rescues kidnapped pair
Special forces soldiers rescued two Italian military hostages in western Afghanistan early today.
The Italian force killed at least five kidnappers, officials said, but both kidnapped victims were also wounded in the raid on a militant hideout.
Elsewhere ambushes and gun battles killed at least 28 other people, including 12 government employees and police, even as President Hamid Karzai said his government was working hard for peace talks with Taliban supporters amid the worst violence in six years.
The two Italians, their Afghan driver and translator had been missing since Saturday when they were last seen at a police checkpoint in the Shindand district of Helmand province, police said.
Afghan Army General Jalandar Shah said Italian special forces rescued the two somewhere in the same district.
The Italian Defence Ministry said a “criminal band” had taken the Italians and officials were afraid they would be sold to other groups. A Taliban spokesman told The Associated Press that its militants were not behind the kidnappings.
Italy has a 2,160-strong military force in Afghanistan.
Kidnappings are an increasingly common tactic used by insurgents in Afghanistan amid an upsurge in violence that has left more than 4,400 dead so far this year, most of them militants, according to an Associated Press tally of figures from Afghan and Western officials.
Meanwhile, two Spanish soldiers died and two others were seriously wounded today in western Afghanistan in a bomb attack. An Iranian interpreter travelling with them also died.
A Nato service member was shot yesterday in eastern Afghanistan, the alliance said in a statement. It gave no further details. The majority of foreign soldiers in the east are American.
In western Farah province, insurgents dressed in police uniforms ambushed a supply convoy escorted by private security guards yesterday, leaving one guard and 12 militants dead.
