MAZAR-E-SHARIF, 31 May 2006 — Taleban gunmen shot dead three Afghan women working for a Western aid agency in northern Afghanistan yesterday, while a roadside bomb killed two Afghans employed by a foreign firm, officials said. The three women from Action Aid were traveling in a car to the northeast of Shiberghan, the capital of Jowzjan province, when they were attacked by militants on motorbikes. Their driver was also killed.
“Apart from the three women, the driver of the car also lost his life in the attack by Taleban fighters who were riding motorcycles,” provincial governor, Juman Khan Hamdard, said.
The Taleban, who are present in the province but less active than other parts of the country, did not issue any immediate claim of responsibility. Two Afghans working for an international company, were killed by a roadside bomb as their vehicle crossed a bridge in the northeastern province of Badakhshan, deputy provincial governor Shamsul Rahman Shams said. Afghan police, meanwhile, said yesterday that 12 people, including a badly beaten policeman, had been killed in riots that swept the capital and 140 people were arrested.
