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| Afghanistan |
| Top Afghan Provincial Official Gunned Down |
| 2010-02-25 |
| [Quqnoos] A senior Afghan official in Kandahar was shot dead Wednesday by gunmen on a motorbike, the govt said. Abdul Majeed Babai, the Kandahar provincial director for culture and information, had just left his home to go to his office when the incident happened, the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement. The gunmen have fled the scene in the fortified Kandahar city, the provincial capital of southern Kandahar province, the birthplace of Taliban. Kandahar is a hotbed of activity for Taliban insurgents fighting against Afghan and NATO forces. In the neighbouring Helmand, some 15,000 US, NATO and Afghan troops are currently battling in Taliban strongholds, in an assault that aims to clear the way for Afghan control of the areas. Military leaders, including US General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of foreign troops in Afghanistan, have said Kandahar is included in the new counter-insurgency plan to speed an end to the war. No groups, including the Taliban, have made an immediate claim of responsibility for the assassination of the top Afghan official. Taliban militants have attacked a number of senior provincial officials in southern Afghanistan over the past few years. |
| Posted by:Fred |