24 May 2011 VOA News Two high-ranking Afghan officials have escaped assassination in attacks that come amid a spring offensive by insurgents.
In southern Afghanistan, officials say the governor of Helmand province, Mohammad Gulab Mangul, was not injured when gunmen opened fire on his motorcade Tuesday as it traveled near the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah.
Mangul's security forces returned fire, killing two of the attackers.
Earlier on Tuesday, a suicide car bomber tried to attack the deputy head of Afghanistan's intelligence agency, Ahmad Zia, in Kabul. Zia escaped unharmed after his bodyguards shot the attacker before he could detonate his explosives-laden vehicle.
In other violence, a roadside bomb killed 10 road workers in the southern province of Kandahar.
More than 28 others were wounded in Tuesday's blast which hit a truck carrying workers in the Panjwai district.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which was condemned by President Hamid Karzai and NATO.
The Afghan Taliban recently stepped up attacks against NATO and Afghan troops, civilians and government officials, as part of its spring campaign.
Elsewhere in Helmand, NATO on Tuesday confirmed the capture of a senior Taliban leader during a May 14 security operation in the Babaji district.
The coalition also said Tuesday that a joint force captured a Germany-based Moroccan al-Qaida operative during a May 8 security operation in southern Zabul province.
Separately, French military officials say a French fighter jet crashed in western Afghanistan on Tuesday, but no one on board was injured. Officials say enemy fire did not cause the crash.
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