NATO forces in Afghanistan say militants have beheaded six Afghan police officers in northern Baghlan province.
A NATO statement said the killings occurred late Tuesday during an insurgent attack on a school, clinic and local government building. The statement said police successfully repelled the assault, but that during the attack, insurgents overran a police checkpoint and killed the officers. The alliance condemned the incident as "brutal" and "barbaric."
Also Wednesday, the Danish military said a roadside bomb killed a Danish soldier and wounded another in southern Helmand province.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's Defense Ministry said a probe into the killing of two U.S. civilian trainers by an Afghan soldier Tuesday showed it was the result of a "verbal argument."
Another Afghan soldier was killed in the crossfire and the shooter, believed to be an Afghan army trainer, was shot dead at a base in northern Balkh province.
In another development, the Taliban denounced Tuesday's international conference on Afghanistan's future. A statement posted in English on the group's web site said "the futile gathering" showed that the United States lost the initiative and is unable to resolve the Afghanistan issue. The statement said that whatever actions are taken in this regard have already been doomed to failure.
Representatives from more than 60 nations and organizations attended the Kabul conference and endorsed the Afghan government's plan to take charge of security by 2014 and assume greater control of development aid.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.