Two killed, one hurt in attack on Afghan U.N. car

KABUL, May 12 (Reuters) Two people were killed and one seriously wounded in a rocket attack on a U.N. vehicle in northwestern Afghanistan today, a U.N. spokesman said.

The attack happened about 40 km north east of the city of Herat, near the border with Badghis province, where five Afghan health workers were killed in an attack last month.

''Something was fired at the convoy, we understand it was a rocket, and it hit the UNICEF vehicle,'' said Edward Carwardine, a spokesman for the U.N. Children's Fund.

An Afghan UNICEF worker was seriously wounded and taken to hospital in Herat, he said.

He was travelling on a routine health mission with an Afghan driver and an Afghan doctor from another aid agency. Both were killed, a U.N. official in Herat said. Taliban insurgents are not known to be active in the area but there have been several recent attacks in the generally peaceful north and west.

The militants have intensified their war against foreign forces and the Western-backed government.

The Taliban, ousted in late 2001, have regularly attacked aid workers, saying their work is supporting the government.

About 30 aid workers were killed last year.

Five workers of the Medecins Sans Frontieres medical aid group, three foreigners and two Afghans, were killed in an ambush in Badghis in 2004. Officials said at the time the Taliban were responsible.

Reuters CH RS2344