KABUL, Sept. 24, 2007 -- Violence across Afghanistan killed at least 47 people including three NATO soldiers in recent two days, while two kidnapped Italian soldiers were freed, authorities said Monday.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) killed eight or nine militants in an operation to liberate two kidnapped Italian soldiers in the western Farah Province early Monday morning, an ISAF statement said.

The two Italian soldiers were freed, but both were wounded with one in serious condition, it said, adding they have been rushed to an ISAF hospital.

All kidnappers were killed in the operation, the statement said.

The two soldiers and one Afghan driver as well as one Afghan interpreter were abducted in the western Herat province neighboring Farah on Saturday.

The ISAF statement said one Afghan was also wounded and it is unknown what happened to the second Afghan national.

Over 2,000 Italian troops, under the commander of ISAF, are being deployed in Afghanistan.

Also in Farah, a bombing attack on an ISAF convoy killed two Spanish soldiers and badly injured two others on Monday, the Spanish defense ministry said. About 700 Spanish troops are staying in Afghanistan.

On Sunday, one ISAF soldier was killed by militants in eastern Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, a conflict killed 21 Taliban militants and three private guards in Farah province on Sunday night, Farah police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang told Xinhua.

Some militants ambushed a convoy of the U.S. Protection and Investigations (USPI), a well-established private security company, on a major road, he said.

During the 3-hour conflict, eight USPI guards were also wounded and four others disappeared, he added. Two USPI vehicles were burned.

The USPI has been ambushed by militants or attacked by bombings from time to time in this volatile country.

Unknown militants on Sunday killed 12 Afghans including seven policemen and two officials in the northeastern Badakhshan Province, criminal department chief of the provincial police Fazal Ahamad Nazari said.

The militants ambushed a minibus carrying the victims, which was on its way from Ragh to Fayzabad city, the provincial capital, he said, adding the other three killed were civilians.

Badakhashan, like other provinces in northern Afghanistan, has been relatively peaceful.

About 37,000 ISAF soldiers are operating across Afghanistan to hunt down militants and keep security.

Due to rising Taliban violence, over 4,600 persons, most of whom were Taliban militants, have been killed in Afghanistan this year.