KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, 5 August 2005 — The head of intelligence in the southern Afghan province of Zabul was shot dead yesterday by Taleban insurgents, a regional official said.
Mohammad Rasul was taking an early morning walk in the Deh Chopan district when he was attacked by four Taleban gunmen riding on two motorbikes, district chief Zafar Khan told AFP.
Khan said the attackers fled after the shooting and that despite a major search operation by the Afghan security forces none of the assailants had been caught.
Abdul Latif Hakimi, a purported spokesman for the Taleban, claimed responsibility for the killing.
“Our fighters killed the head of intelligence and one of his bodyguards,” Hakimi told AFP by telephone from an unknown location.
The Afghan official Khan said only the intelligence official was killed and no one else was hurt in the attack.
A religious leader was also injured yesterday in an attack claimed by Taleban insurgents in southern Afghanistan, where several such figures have been killed in recent months, officials said.
Mullah Zarif, the leading Shariah scholar in the district of Marja, was attacked in a drive-by shooting by Taleban insurgents, regional security chief Amanullah Khan told AFP.
“Mullah Zarif, head of the Ulemas Council in Marja district, was attacked today in his district by two Talebans ridding motorcycles,” Khan said.
“He was wounded and taken to Lashkar Gah hospital, where he’s being treated,” he said, adding that the attackers had escaped arrest.
Abdul Latif Hakimi claimed the attack on behalf of the Taleban insurgents and said it was carried out because the religious leader was a government-backed figure.
