A Turkish engineer working on a U.S.-funded road project was killed and another was kidnapped in southern Afghanistan Friday in an ambush officials blamed on Taliban. The attack, which coincided with a visit to Kabul by British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, was the latest to target the U.S.-funded Kabul-Kandahar highway, the only major reconstruction project to be completed since the Taliban's collapse in 2001. An Afghan security guard was also killed and a translator kidnapped in the same ambush on their vehicle in the Shah Joy district of the southern province of Zabul, where Taliban fighters have been active in recent months. They have declared a "jihad," on foreign troops, their Afghan allies and aid organizations, and have targeted the highway that President Hamid Karzai hopes will bring people closer together and help ostracize Taliban. "This tragic incident happened just after lunch," said Kheyal Mohammad Husseini, governor of Zabul. "The Turkish nationals were involved in reconstruction of the highway. Terrorists were behind this," he told Reuters. Husseini blamed Taliban or forces loyal to renegade warlord and former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. A source at another Turkish sub-contractor working on the road said the two Turks involved in the attack were employed by a company named Kolin. The company and the Turkish embassy in Kabul could not immediately be reached for comment. Also Taliban fighters were blamed for the kidnapping in October of a Turkish engineer on the same road and of two Indians in December. All three were later released. Louis Berger Group, the U.S. firm overseeing the renovation of the road, also had a helicopter fired on near the southern city of Kandahar last month. The Australian pilot was killed and two passengers -- a Briton and an American -- were wounded. **PHOTO CAPTION*** British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw (2nd R) speaks to a Pakistani student who is reading verses from the Koran at the Jamia Imdad ul Aloom al-Islamia (Centre for Islamic Education) in Peshawar near the Afghan border March 5, 2004. (REUTERS/Mian Khursheed)