Nineteen Afghan workers killed in ambush

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Sep 22 (Reuters) Suspected Taliban ambushed a truck taking construction workers home in southern Afghanistan today, killing 19 of them.

A spokesman for the Taliban, waging an intensified insurgency against the government and foreign forces across the south and east, claimed responsibility.

The workers' bus was hit by a roadside blast and gunmen then opened fire, an Interior Ministry official said. The men were heading home for the beginning of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

''Right after the explosion terrorists arrived at the scene and shot the workers dead,'' the ministry said in a statement. Three of the workers were wounded but managed to escape.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, claimed responsibility, saying the labourers were working for the government. The men were building a district government building near the Pakistani border, the ministry official said.

This year has been the bloodiest since the Taliban were driven from power in 2001 by US-led forces for refusing to give up Osama bin Laden.

More than 2,000 people, mainly rebels but including civilians and Afghan and foreign troops, have been killed in fighting this year.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said yesterday the violence represented a watershed and was the most severe threat to the country's transition since 2001.

The resurgence of the Taliban has also focused attention on the Afghan-Pakistani border, and the support the Taliban get from the Pakistani side.

Afghan President Hamid Kazrai and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf are both in the United States for talks with US President George W Bush.

EXTRA TROOPS About 40,000 NATO and US-led troops are trying to push back the Taliban and ensure security for development programmes, such as building roads.

NATO is seeking 2,500 extra troops after its forces in the south, in particular British and Canadian troops, have come up against a much more aggressive Taliban than expected.

In a separate incident, Afghan security forces clashed with a group of Taliban in the southern province of Uruzgan.

The provincial police chief said 20 Taliban and one member of the security forces were killed. Taliban spokesman Yousuf said the Taliban had killed 14 government soldiers.

A body found in the southern province of Helmand was identified as that of a Turkish guard kidnapped last month, a Turkish embassy official said.

The Taliban said its militants had killed the guard after the Turkish construction company he had been protecting ignored an ultimatum to leave Afghanistan.

The Taliban regard companies involved in reconstruction as supporting the U.S.-led military mission.

In the eastern province of Kunar, gunmen attacked a convoy of oil tankers importing fuel for foreign forces killing a Pakistani worker and destroying five tankers, a government official said.

REUTERS MS PM2125