Senior Afghan official shot dead

The head of the government's refugee department in the southern province of Kandahar has been shot dead.

Reports from Kandahar suggest Hamid Agha was shot outside his home by gunmen on a motorbike. At least two of his bodyguards were also shot.

And in Kabul one person was hurt in a rocket attack seemingly targeted at key military and diplomatic installations.


The attacks came amid a perceptible increase in violence as Afghanistan prepares for elections scheduled for September.

Heightened alert

It is not known why Mr Agha, the local Kandahar government's head of refugee affairs, was targeted.

Kandahar is a former stronghold of the ousted Taleban rulers who are now waging an insurgency in this and neighbouring provinces.

In Kabul, staff of the Nato-led peacekeeping force Isaf told the BBC a rocket had landed just outside the force's perimeter fence.

The US embassy, the Afghan intelligence directorate and the Kabul garrison are all close by.

The garrison's chief of staff said the 107-mm rocket would have been fired from between 10 and 20km away.

Such attacks are not rare in Kabul, but this one coincided with a heightened state of alert here and the cordoning off of some key business areas of the city centre.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3810545.stm