'Militants' kill Afghan workers

Suspected Taleban militants have shot dead eight Afghan men employed at a US military base in eastern Afghanistan, police say.

The incident happened when a vehicle taking 10 workers home was stopped and fired on by gunmen in the Korangal area of Kunar province.

Two workers who were in the vehicle managed to escape, the police say.

Attacks blamed on the Taleban have soared in south and east Afghanistan this year, with hundreds of deaths.

The workers were going home for festival holiday when the incident happened.

Kunar police official Abdul Saboor told the Associated Press that the gunmen stopped their vehicle and took away some money before gunning them down.

"This was a shocking attack against these poor people."

Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, but the police have blamed the Taleban.

Surge in violence

In July, suspected Taleban militants shot dead five Afghan men working at the same base in Kunar.

Last month, 19 construction workers were killed in southern Afghanistan when their bus was hit by a bomb and then fired on by insurgents.

In the south and east of the country fighting has been raging almost daily between coalition forces and Taleban rebels.

The surge in violence has coincided with the arrival of thousands of international troops trying to help the Afghan government bring security to areas where it has little control