KABUL, Afghanistan - Suspected militants ambushed a NATO convoy in eastern Afghanistan, killing two members of the alliance and wounding seven troops, while 15 suspected militants were killed by police, officials said Sunday.
The convoy was attacked Saturday with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said. It said a service member and a translator were killed.
The ISAF statement did not give any details about the location of the attack or the nationalities of the casualties.
Militant attacks and military operations have escalated this spring, mostly in the country's south and east.
NATO and Afghan security forces launched operations in three southern provinces aimed at disrupting the militant supply network and extending the government's reach in these volatile areas, said Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi.
The offensive began earlier this week in Helmand, Kandahar and Ghazni. There were no report of major clashes so far, Azimi said.
Separately, in eastern Khost province, militants attacked a police checkpoint in Yaqubi district on Saturday and the ensuing clash left 12 militants dead, a statement from the Interior Ministry said.
Also Saturday, police clashed with Taliban militants in neighboring Paktika province's Shakin district, leaving three suspected insurgents dead, said Ghamai Khan, spokesman for the governor.
A foreign military convoy, meanwhile, opened fire on a civilian vehicle attempting to overtake it in Khost, killing a young girl on Saturday, said Wazir Pascha, a spokesman for the provincial police chief.
Officials with NATO and the U.S.-led coalition, which both operate in the area, could not immediately confirm the incident.
In the country's most dangerous province, Helmand, a makeshift boat carrying fighters fleeing fighting sank Friday while crossing a river, leaving an estimated 60 Taliban militants dead, Azimi said. He did not say what caused the boat to sink.
"They were fleeing from the pressure of our operations in the areas," of Kajaki and Sangin, Azimi said.
Hundreds of Taliban insurgents are believed to be in Helmand, the world's leading opium poppy region and the site of fierce battles in the last several months.
The Afghan army was investigating how many Taliban insurgents and how many civilians were on board the boat, the Defense Ministry said. It did not say what caused the boat to sink.
Meanwhile, 34 suspected Taliban were killed in several gunbattles over two days in the southern province's Kajaki district, near where a U.S. helicopter went down on Thursday, killing five Americans, a Canadian and a Briton.
The Interior Ministry said four Taliban group commanders were among the 34 killed. The Defense Ministry said two Afghan soldiers were killed and two wounded in the operations.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan this year, according to an Associated Press count based on U.S., NATO and Afghan officials.
