The U.N. envoy to Afghanistan said civilian casualties rose nearly 30 percent in the first three months of the year, calling it a "troubling rise" in violence. The U.S.-led NATO force said Wednesday that Afghan and coalition forces killed 13 insurgents in joint operations that began a day earlier in eastern Kapisa and Nangarhar provinces close to where the Taliban are thought to have kidnapped a group of foreign civilians. According to AP, the Afghan government said it was trying to win the release of eight Turks, an Afghan translator and two pilots - one from Russia and the other from Kyrgyzstan - who were kidnapped after their helicopter made an emergency landing in bad weather last Sunday in eastern Logar province - adjacent to Nangarhar. "It's a very serious issue. We are following that issue very closely through our police organizations in Logar province, with the governor's office and with local elders in that particular area," Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqi said Wednesday.
