3 Italian soldiers die in Afghanistan

Three Italian soldiers died in western Afghanistan on Monday after their vehicle fell into a ditch, police said. A convoy of Italian forces and USAID workers were on their way to survey a dam in the Shindand district of western Herat province, when they slid off the road in wet conditions, said Abdul Rauf Ahmadi, a police spokesman. USAID is a government agency providing U.S. economic and humanitarian assistance. NATO confirmed the deaths of three International Security Assistance Force members, but did not immediately release their identities or nationalities. It also did not say how the three died. More than 2,800 coalition forces have died in Afganistan since the military operation began in 2001.