Two foreign soldiers lost their lives and two others have been injured in clashes with insurgents in southern Afghanistan, while four workers with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were kidnapped in the same conflict torn-country, NATO and Afghan officials informed Thursday.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) announced that the incident involving the four servicemen occurred Wednesday, but the no other details were revealed due to the security mission’s policy.

Even so, the Royal Danish Army said two of its troopers were killed and one injured in fire exchange with Taliban militants in the volatile Helmand province, southern Afghanistan.

In a statement release Thursday in Copenhagen, the Danish Army said insurgents attacked the soldiers and an intense firefight broke out, lasting several hours.

Despite these casualties the Danish Army assured that its forces will continue their “important” mission in the conflict-torn region that would be “without any control” otherwise.

Meanwhile, Afghan government officials said two foreign and two Afghan workers of the ICRC were abducted late Wednesday in Saydabad district of Wardak province.

Local authorities said the four workers were snatched by unidentified gunmen near the Kabul-Kandahar highway and a massive search operation has been launched.

The four ICRC workers were travelling from the Jaghatu district to Kabul without escort when they were kidnapped. Local sources said the ICRC staff met with militants holding a German national since July, but the negotiations failed and they had to return to the Afghan capital.

Reportedly, the ICRC team had been advised to accept a security escort because of the dangerous area they were passing through and nightfall.

In separate incidents, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-packed vehicle near a police convoy in the eastern province of Nangarhar. The Taliban claimed responsibility for Thursday’s attack but didn’t reveal further details, while the police did not report any casualties.

A flare up of violence has been observed in the past weeks, the number of attacks on Afghan and foreign soldiers soaring dramatically. More than 4,400 insurgents, troopers and civilians died in clashes or suicide attacks only this year in the war-torn country.