Taliban ambush wounds 5 foreigners in Afghanistan

KABUL – Afghan officials say five foreigners were wounded when the Taliban ambushed their convoy in the country’s western Herat province.

A provincial spokesman, Jilani Farhad, says the attack happened Thursday in the district of Chishti Sharif. He says the insurgents opened fire on a minibus travelling from Bamyan province with 11 foreigners, whom he identified as “tourists.” Foreigners rarely travel as tourists in Afghanistan.

He says the foreigners were from the United States, Germany and England but didn’t provide their names. An Afghan driver was also wounded in the attack.

Farhad says Afghan security forces rescued the foreigners who were taken to a local hospital and were to be brought to Kabul later in the evening.

Najibullah Najibi, military spokesman in Herat, says no one was seriously hurt in the attack.