February 28, 2008	Thursday	Safar 20 ,1429

KABUL, Feb 27: Afghanistan’s interior minister on Wednesday survived an attack on his convoy, while clashes killed several civilians and Taliban militants around the country, the interior ministry said.

Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbel’s armoured convoy was shot at about 50 kilometres outside of Kabul, his spokesman said, adding they had only learnt of the incident afterwards.

“We received reports there was some shooting from the mountain on one or two vehicles,” the spokesman said. Police were investigating if the attack had been aimed at the minister, he said.

The spokesman, who was travelling with the convoy, said even the minister did not realise that firing took place and no one was hurt in the attack in which Afghan media reports said rocket and gunfire were used to ambush the delegation.

Meanwhile, there were new fears for the fate of a US aid worker and her Afghan driver kidnapped in the southern city of Kandahar a month ago as their employer said it had unconfirmed information they had been killed.

In the eastern province of Khost, a bomb blew up a civilian pick-up truck, wounding a dozen people, including women and children, a district police chief said.

One of the wounded died in hospital and six others were in a critical condition, he said. A similar remote-controlled bomb in the same area killed five policemen and a young boy on Tuesday.

The International Security Assistance Force said on Wednesday that eight Taliban fighters were killed in operations over the past three days in the southern province of Helmand.

The force rejected claims that it had killed civilians in the operation around the Kajaki Dam, a vital water and power source.—AFP