Two Afghan police die in Taliban ambush

Two Afghan policemen died and two more were wounded in an ambush in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, officials said, while an international soldier died in a separate incident.
The interior ministry said the attack in Dara-I-Nur district in Nangarhar province was carried out by the "enemies of peace and stability", a term often used to describe the Taliban, who claimed responsibility for the attack.
Afghan security forces are frequently targeted by the Taliban and other insurgents who have been waging war in the impoverished country since a US-led invasion almost ten years ago.
Meanwhile, a coalition forces soldier died elsewhere in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said, without giving further details in line with policy.
Eastern Afghanistan, close to the border with Pakistan where insurgents have hideouts, is frequently the scene of fierce fighting.
A total of 135 foreign troops have died in Afghanistan so far this year, compared to 711 for the whole of 2010, according to the independent website iCasualties.org.
The traditional fighting season has got under way in recent weeks with the start of spring.
In a third incident in Kapisa province, northeast of the capital Kabul, two crew members were rescued after a coalition helicopter crash-landed.
The helicopter apparently came down after hitting a cable, said Kapisa deputy provincial governor Aziz Ul Rahman.
"Initial information we have says that the a helicopter of the foreign forces has hit a cable that the local people in Alasay district had erected between two mountains to ferry rocks," he said.