Four foreign, three Afghan troops killed attacks

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Four foreign servicemen and at least three Afghan soldiers were killed in separate incidents of pre-election violence across the country, officials said on Tuesday.

With a presidential and provincial poll just nine days away, violence has escalated across Afghanistan, making 2009 the deadliest year since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

U.S. military spokeswoman Captain Elizabeth Mathias confirmed that three servicemen with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) reported killed in separate incidents in the south were American, while Poland's defense ministry said one of its nationals had been killed and four wounded in the east.

ISAF generally does not identify the nationalities of soldiers killed in Afghanistan, leaving it to the member country.

In southern Kandahar province, four civilians were killed and 16 others wounded when roadside bombs struck two cars, the Interior Ministry said, although Dawood Farhad, a doctor in Kandahar city, said nine dead were brought to hospital.

Homemade bombs planted in the road are by far the most lethal weapon deployed by Taliban insurgents frequently killing civilians as well as foreign and government troops.

Unknown gunmen killed two elders and wounded three others including a member of a public awareness unit of the election commission in Takhar province on Tuesday, said Abdul Qodus, an election commission officer.

Takhar, in hitherto peaceful north, has seen a series of attacks on candidates and election workers in recent days and provincial police chief Ziauddin Mahmoodi said Taliban-linked gunmen had infiltrated into the north to disrupt the elections.

Attacks this year have reached their worst level since the Taliban were toppled in 2001 and escalated further since thousands of U.S. and British troops launched major operations in the southern Taliban stronghold of Helmand province last month.

Early this month the Taliban posted "night letters -- posters pasted in mosques and on village walls -- warning voters not to leave their homes on polling day.