Kabul - The number of abductions has risen dramatically in Afghanistan, a confidential paper by the Interior Ministry said.

In the first six months of 2008, 175 people were abducted in Afghanistan, compared with 96 in the same period the previous year, the paper, which was obtained by Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, said.

Experts believe the real number of kidnappings is much higher, as many cases are not reported to police out of fear for the victims.

Kabul  - One NATO soldier was killed and two injured in a roadside bomb blast in eastern Afghanistan, the military said Sunday.

The soldiers, who were part of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), were attacked during a patrol on Sunday, the alliance said in a statement.

Taliban militants rely heavily on use of roadside bombings as part of their campaign to topple the Western-backed Afghan government seven years after the ouster of their ultra-Islamist regime.

Kabul - A joint patrol of Afghan and US-led coalition troops killed two Afghan policemen after they opened fire on the combined forces during an anti-insurgent operation in eastern Afghanistan, the military said Sunday.

Members of Afghan and coalition forces were conducting a ground operation in the north-eastern province of Kapisa on Friday night to "disrupt Taliban senior leadership and suicide attack networks" when they came under fire by several individuals, the US military said in a statement.

Kabul - A suicide attack on a police station in western Afghanistan killed two people, while at least 200 villagers protested against an operation by US forces which, they claimed, killed four civilians, officials said Saturday.

A suicide bomber who had strapped explosives around his body detonated himself inside the police station in Zaranj, provincial capital of south-western Nimruz province Saturday, killing a policeman and a civilian, said provincial governor Gholam Dastagir Azaad.

Kabul  - Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday approved a decision by the election commission to set presidential polls in August, retracting his earlier decree that called for the voting to be held next month.

Karzai had thrown the country into political turmoil last week by ordering the Independent Election Commission, which had set balloting for August 20, to bring the election forward to comply with the constitution.

Kabul  - Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission on Wednesday defended its decision to set August 20 as the date for the next presidential election, rejecting President Hamid Karzai's decree for early polls in April as simply too soon for the country to prepare for.

Karzai last week ordered the commission to move the polling up to comply with the constitution, sparking an outcry from politicians who said they were not ready for an earlier election date.