French journalists kidnapped near Kabul

Two French journalists have been kidnapped by insurgents northeast of the Afghan capital together with their translator and driver, a police official said.

The abductions happened yesterday when the group was driving through Shinkai district of Kapisa province, 120km from Kabul.

France 3 television in Paris said one of its film crews had gone missing while preparing a story about the construction of a road in the region.

The French Foreign Ministry in Paris confirmed that two French journalists and their Afghan helpers had gone missing in so far unexplained circumstances.

'Nothing can be ruled out. In both Paris and Kabul, all efforts are being made to locate our compatriots as soon as possible,' the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the CIA has confirmed that seven of its employees were killed and six were injured in a suicide attack in Afghanistan.

A 'well-dressed' Afghan army official detonated a suicide vest at a meeting of CIA officials in south-eastern Khost province, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

'This deadly attack was carried out by a valorous Afghan army member when the officials were busy gaining information about the mujahideen, in the (fitness) club,' he wrote in an email.

When asked how the attacker managed to launch an assault in a foreign military base, the Taliban spokesman replied: 'Since the man was an officer, he had not much difficulties.'

The CIA has been expanding its presence in Afghanistan, stepping up strikes against Taliban and al-Qaeda militants along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Forward Operating Base Chapman, the site of the suicide attack, is near the Pakistan border, in one of the areas of Afghanistan where the Taliban insurgency is strongest.

The Agency's role of finding terrorism suspects in Afghanistan has been criticised by both Afghans and human rights groups.

Separately, in southern Kandahar, five Canadians - four soldiers and a journalist - were killed when their armoured vehicle was hit by a bomb, the Canadian Defence Ministry said.

The blast, about 4km outside Kandahar, struck the patrol as it was visiting community reconstruction projects.