Two Afghan police die in ambush

KABUL: Two Afghan policemen died and two more were wounded in an ambush in eastern Afghanistan Saturday, officials said.

The interior ministry said the attack in Dara-i-Nur district in Nangarhar province was carried out by the "enemies of peace and stability", a term often used to describe the Taliban.

A foreign forces helicopter meanwhile crash-landed in Kapisa province, northeast of the capital Kabul, with two foreign troops rescued after what international forces called a "hard landing"

The helicopter was forced to land after hitting a cable, said Kapisa deputy provincial governor Aziz Ul Rahman. "Initial information we have says that a helicopter of the foreign forces has hit a cable that the local people in Alasay district had erected between two mountains to ferry rocks," he said. "We have sent an investigation team to the area and the team will report back in few hours."

The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) spokesman Major Michael Johnson added that both crew members were alive and under the care of coalition forces, but said he could not comment on the extent of their injuries.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed its forces had shot down the helicopter late Friday, killing all those aboard. French forces are serving in the area but French army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Eric de Lapresle denied one of its helicopters was involved.