A Turkish engineer working on a US-funded road project was killed and another was kidnapped in southern Afghanistan on Friday in an ambush officials blamed on Islamic militants.
The attack, which coincided with a visit to Kabul by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, was the latest to target the US-funded Kabul-Kandahar highway, the only major reconstruction project to be completed since the Taleban's collapse in 2001.
An Afghan security guard was also killed and a translator kidnapped in the same ambush on their vehicle in the Shah Joy district of the southern province of Zabul, where guerrillas from the ousted Taleban militia have been active in recent months.
A source at another Turkish sub-contractor working on the road said the two Turks involved in the attack were employed by a company named Kolin.