Afghan ambush kills three ahead of elections

Militants ambushed a security patrol near the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing a district police chief and two officers, and security forces thwarted plans for three bombings, a government spokesman said today.

Insurgents have vowed to disrupt tomorrow’s landmark legislative elections.

“This is the first attack so close to Kabul that we have seen in a long time,” Interior Ministry spokesman Luftullah Mashal said of the police ambush. “The Taliban and al Qaida are trying their best to create problems.”

He said militants ambushed the patrol late last night in Musayi district, about 7 miles south of the capital. The bodies of the police chief and his two officers were riddled with bullets, he said.

The attack came despite thousands of police and soldiers, as well as heavily armed NATO-led international peacekeepers, patrolling in and around the capital.

Meanwhile, Mashal said security forces had foiled plots for three massive militant bombings.

Police in eastern Kunar province detained two Pakistanis, suspected to be Taliban members, armed with 45 pounds of explosives.

Also, soldiers at a checkpoint in central Ghazni province stopped a vehicle with C-4 high explosive hidden under its seats. A second car bomb was found in eastern Paktika province when security forces discovered 660 pounds of explosives in the back of a pickup truck.

Mashal said the intended targets weren’t immediately clear.