Afghanistan ambush kills 12

Three gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying police and government employees, killing 12 in north-eastern Afghanistan, police said today.

Meanwhile, a Nato service member was killed by small-arms fire yesterday in eastern Afghanistan, the alliance said. The exact location of the incident or the victim's nationality was not given.

The attack in the remote north-eastern Badakhshan province yesterday left seven policemen and five government employees dead, and one policeman wounded. They were travelling to Kabul, a Badakhshan police chief said.

The police were being transferred to new posts, so were not armed, he said.

He added that there was possibly a personal conflict between the unidentified attackers and the officers.

Insurgency-related violence is relatively uncommon in northern Afghanistan, though the area has seen a handful of suicide bomb attacks this year.

In western Farah province, insurgents dressed in police uniforms ambushed a supply convoy escorted by private security guards yesterday, and the subsequent gunbattle left one security guard and 12 militants dead, said provincial Governor Muhaidin Baluch.