Six Afghans killed by Taliban militants
Suspected Taliban militants ambushed and killed six Afghans today as they were transporting the body of a government engineer who was killed on Wednesday in another deadly rebel attack, officials said.
The latest victims were driving on the main road linking the capital, Kabul, with the southern city of Kandahar when they were attacked in Zabul province’s Shahjoy district, said Ali Khail, provincial government spokesman.
Initial reports suggested the victims had been working for an international aid group and that seven people had died, but Khail said only six were killed. He said he was waiting for confirmation of their identities.
They had been taking the body of the engineer to Kabul, said Naik Mohammed, a doctor at a hospital in the town of Qalat where their bodies were taken.
The engineer was killed on Wednesday along with four other Afghans who were working on a US-funded project to help end opium farming in the south of the country.
Taliban militants were also accused of being behind Wednesday’s attack. The two assaults were about 150 miles apart from each other and it was not immediately clear if they were linked.
Afghan police and soldiers have been deployed to the location of today’s killing, the official said.
Militants have stepped up attacks on military and civilian targets after a winter lull, further impeding aid to the impoverished region. Aid workers have been targeted as part of a drive to undermine recovery under the US-backed government that replaced the hardline militia.
US and Afghan troops have fought a string of bloody battles with insurgents since early April. About 150 militants have been reported killed in the period, along with 30 members of the Afghan security forces, three US troops and a Romanian soldier.
