Afghan troops free Taliban's captives

KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan troops stormed a Taliban compound Monday and freed five Afghan U.N. staffers who had been held hostage for a month, an operation that left two soldiers and several insurgents dead, an Afghan general said.

The head of Afghan army troops in the north, Gen. Murad Ali Murad, said his troops surrounded the compound in northern Baghlan province and freed the workers who were being held in the basement. He said the freed workers appeared healthy.

U.N. officials in Kabul confirmed that their staffers had been freed but did not provide further details. They had been missing since April 15 when their vehicles were hijacked in Baghlan, which has seen increasing Taliban activity over the last year.

Murad said two of his soldiers were killed in the fighting, along with "tens of insurgents."

Kidnappings have become a problem in Afghanistan amid a strengthening insurgency and general lawlessness, despite the arrival of thousands of additional U.S. forces to combat the Taliban.

On Sunday, extremists shot and killed a prominent Muslim cleric, Rahman Gul. His brother and a relative also died in the ambush as the three returned to their homes in the Chapa Dara district of the eastern province of Kunar, the Interior Ministry and Gen. Khalilullah Zaiyie, the provincial police chief, said.

In recent days, Gul, the chief of the district clerical council, had stressed the importance of "peace and stability" across Afghanistan. No one claimed responsibility, but insurgents are known to target those who oppose their extreme interpretation of Islam.

The shooting capped a weekend of roadside bombings, assassinations, extremist attacks, and suicide blasts across the country as part of an expected springtime spike in insurgent violence.

On Monday, Italy's Foreign Ministry said two Italian soldiers in the NATO mission were killed by a roadside bomb while riding in a convoy near the western city of Herat. Two soldiers were wounded.

The United States said one of its service members died in a bomb attack in the south Monday, and NATO said another of its service members died in a bombing in the west. No other details were immediately available.

At least 26 NATO troops, including 16 U.S. service members, have been killed this month across Afghanistan, many in the south where NATO troops are moving in as part of a stepped-up security operation in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban movement.

Southern Afghanistan has seen the fiercest fighting in recent weeks.

Dense fog hindered rescuers who fanned out across mountainous terrain Monday to search for an Afghan passenger plane that vanished with 44 passengers on board, including an American.

After receiving tips from area residents who heard a loud bang, Afghan authorities rushed to the Salang Pass, a major route through the Hindu Kush mountains that connects the capital to the north. Late Monday, they said they suspected the plane went down farther south, closer to its destination, Kabul International Airport.

The plane, operated by Pamir Airways, a private Afghan airline, was headed from Kunduz in northern Afghanistan to the capital. Myar Rasooli, the head of Kabul airport, said air traffic controllers' last contact with the plane was when it was 55 miles north of Kabul. He said there was no distress call.

The British Embassy in Kabul confirmed that three British citizens were aboard. One American also was on board, said

a State Department official in Washington who

spoke on condition of anonymity and did not name the person pending notification of family.

- Associated Press

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