U.N. Worker Injured in Afghan Ambush

KABUL, Afghanistan – A two-hour clash between suspected Taliban militants and police left two officers dead in western Afghanistan, a spokesman said Sunday.

The Taliban attacked the highway police checkpoint Saturday night in the Bakwa district of Farah province, and two police were killed in the subsequent gun battle, said Baryalai Khan, spokesman of the provincial police chief.

Separately, a U.N. mine-clearing worker was wounded by suspected Taliban militants during an ambush on Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces north of Kabul, the coalition said Sunday.

The militants fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns at Afghan and coalition forces on Saturday in the Tag Ab district of Kapisa province, said a statement from the coalition.

No Afghan or coalition forces were wounded or killed in the attack, it said.

A U.N. vehicle carrying the mine-clearing worker, which was traveling separately from the convoy in the opposite direction on the same road, was hit in the attack.

Denise Duclaux, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Mine Action Center for Afghanistan, said the Afghan deminer was returning from a work site back to his base camp when his vehicle drove into the fighting.

The deminer was hit in the shoulder and treated by a paramedic traveling with him, Duclaux said, adding that his condition is stable.