U.S.-escorted convoy of U.N., government officials ambushed in southeastern Afghanistan

Friday, June 11th 2004, 9:27 am

By: News On 6

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) _ Insurgents fired rockets at a convoy carrying U.N. and government officials and American military officers in southeastern Afghanistan Friday, police said. No injuries were reported.

The convoy of more than 30 vehicles, escorted by U.S. and Afghan soldiers, was passing through Gomal, a lawless district in Paktika province, 140 miles south of the capital, Kabul, provincial police chief Gen. Mohammed Rahim Alikhel said.

``Suddenly they were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades fired from a long distance,'' Alikhel told The Associated Press. ``They had a lot of security, and the attackers fled in less than two minutes.''

Alikhel said 11 rockets were fired at the convoy from a mountainside. Several journalists, including a contingent from ABC News, were accompanying the convoy.

It was unclear whether any of the vehicles was hit or if U.S. troops joined Afghan police and military guards in returning fire.

Paktika borders on Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area, where Pakistani troops are battling foreign militants who have refused pressure to surrender. The Pakistani military said Friday it had killed 50 people in the last three days.

The convoy was carrying Paktika Gov. Ghulab Mangal, U.N. officials and American military officers on a mission meant to lay the foundations for a return of government administrators to the province, which is considered a stronghold of the ousted Taliban regime.

Poor security has so far prevented the United Nations from starting to register voters in Paktika and many other regions of the south and east, hampering preparations for national elections slated for September.