KABUL, Sept 27: Four Red Cross staffers, two of them foreigners, were kidnapped near the Afghan capital while two Danish soldiers were killed in an attack by Taliban.

An overnight operation near the border with Pakistan, meanwhile, killed 18 Taliban, a provincial official said, adding that there were some civilian casualties although he could not confirm claims that eight were killed.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) employees were captured on Wednesday about 50km from Kabul while on a mission to secure the release of a German engineer kidnapped 10 weeks ago, officials said.

Security forces had on Thursday afternoon surrounded the “armed thieves” who abducted the four and they were expected to be freed soon, said Anayatullah Mangal, Governor of Sayed Abad district.

The ICRC would not confirm the group had been kidnapped, saying only that they had not returned from a mission to facilitate the release of the German engineer and around four Afghans abducted in mid-July.

A Taliban spokesman said the group was not involved in the disappearance of the Red Cross workers.

Taliban attacked a military base in the south of the country on Wednesday, killing two Danish soldiers, the Danish army said. A third Dane was wounded, it said in a statement.

Officials in Kunar province reported that the International Security Assistance Force had carried out an operation overnight that killed at least 18 Taliban.

“There have been some civilian casualties from the operation but I don’t have the exact figure,” provincial spokesman Zarghon Shah Khaliqyar said.

People wounded in the operation and being treated in a hospital in the provincial capital Asadabad said around eight civilians were killed.

“Four of my daughters and my husband’s second wife have been killed in the bombing,” said a woman, Tella Gulla.

Taliban attacked a police post near Qalat town and killed six policemen, provincial police chief Mohammad Yaqob said. Three policemen were wounded.

The government announced it had arrested the main Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi. However, A person believed to be the man himself called media to deny that he had been captured.—AFP