Afghan security officials at a checkpoint. Two judges were killed in an early morning ambush in Kabul on Sunday
KABUL, Jan 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Two gunmen on a motorcycle fired on a
group of female judges near a bus stop in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, on
Sunday morning, killing two and injuring two others.
The incident came in the morning rush hour in Taimani neighborhood, Police District 4 of the city.
Sunday’s shooting was the latest in a string of targeted killings in the war-hit country.
On Tuesday, two female army officers died and two female officers and a driver wounded in a similar incident in northern Balkh province.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks so far.
A spokesman for the Taliban said its fighters were not involved.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani issued a statement condemning attacks on civilians by the Taliban and other militant groups.
Ghani said “terror, horror and crime” was not a solution to Afghanistan’s problem and beseeched the Taliban to accept “a permanent ceasefire”.
Government officials, journalists, and activists have been targeted in recent months, stoking fear particularly in the capital Kabul.
The Taliban has denied involvement in some of the attacks, but has said its fighters would continue to “eliminate” important government figures, though not journalists or civil society members.
Rising violence has complicated US-brokered peace talks taking place in Doha as Washington withdraws troops.
Sources on both sides say negotiations are only likely to make substantive progress once US President-elect Joe Biden takes office and makes his Afghan policy known.
The number of US troops in Afghanistan has been reduced to 2,500, the lowest level of American forces there since 2001, according to the Pentagon on Friday. — NNN-AGENCIES
