Candidate killed in Afghanistan

A candidate in Afghanistan's election has been shot dead.

Mohammad Ashraf Ramazan, an ethnic hazara, was driving through the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif when he was shot by unknown attackers.

Mr Ramazan is the first candidate to be killed by militants since the 18 September election. The counting of votes is still continuing.

The US said earlier that two of its soldiers had been killed in attacks in the south and east of the country.

In Mazar-e-Sharif, eyewitnesses told the BBC that police cordoned off the streets immediately after the attack, but the attackers managed to flee the area.

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Afghanistan

Afghanistan's election commission says Mr Ramazan had been running in fifth place for one of 11 assembly seats in Balkh province with 12% of the vote counted so far.

Some people had expressed concern before the vote about an "assassination clause" in the election law.

The clause says if a winning candidate dies, his seat will go to the next candidate in line.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the killing.

"Mr Ramazan was a patriot who had well served his community. I strongly condemn the killing of Mohammad Ashraf Ramazan," he said in a statement.

A well-known trader, Mr Ramazan was a supporter of Mohammad Mohaqiq, the former planning minister.

Ground assault

The deaths of two more US soldiers brings to 80 the number of US soldiers killed in Afghanistan this year.

One US soldier was wounded in one of the attacks, which took place near the southern city of Kandahar on Monday, a US military statement said.

Militants had fired rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire at US military vehicles taking part in a ground assault, the US statement said.

In the other incident, near the eastern town of Asadabad, a US Marine was killed when militants attacked a US forward operating base, the statement said.

The US has about 20,000 troops in Afghanistan. Nearly 200 have been killed since the invasion in late 2001.

More than 1,000 people have been killed in violence linked to militancy in Afghanistan this year.