By DPA,
Kabul : An Afghan government official was gunned down in southern Afghanistan Sunday and three border police personnel were killed in a roadside bomb blast in eastern region, officials said.
Abdul Zahir, head of public transportation department in southern Kandahar province, was gunned down by two attackers riding on motorbikes Sunday morning when the official was on his way to office in Kandahar city, interior ministry said in a statement.
The attack came a day after three suicide bombers stormed the office for Kandahar’s provincial governor, located in the heart of the city, killing themselves and five policemen. The provincial governor was unharmed, but nine people were wounded.
Meanwhile, three border police forces were killed and as many were wounded Saturday afternoon when their vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb in Babrak Tani area of southeastern Khost province, Abdul Qayoum, a police official said.
Roadside and suicide attacks have become common tactics for the Taliban militants who are waging a seven-year-old insurgency against Afghan and international forces since the ouster of their government in late 2001.
Separately, US-led coalition forces destroyed a Taliban anti-aircraft weapon, ZPU-2, in a “precision strike” in the Nad Ali district of southern Helmand province Sunday, the US military said in a statement.
Taliban have recently obtained anti-aircraft weapons, posing a serious threat to NATO-led forces in the country, who mostly rely on use of airpower as part of their anti-insurgent operations.
The coalition had destroyed two more rebel anti-aircraft weapons in the district in the past one week.
More than 70,000 international troops deployed from 42 nations are stationed in Afghanistan. More than 25,000 more troops, most of them Americans, are expected to arrive in the war-shattered country in coming months to provide security for the presidential elections in August.