By Radio Free Afghanistan
February 9, 2021
KABUL — Afghan officials say unidentified gunmen have shot dead four government employees in the capital.
Kabul police spokesman Ferdaws Faramarz told reporters that the gunmen opened fire on a vehicle carrying staff from the Rural Rehabilitation and Development Ministry, killing four of them.
A spokesman for the ministry said they were on their way to the central province of Maidan Wardak when the gunmen stopped their vehicle and killed them.
Faramarz said an investigation was under way.
Targeted killings and assassinations have swept Afghanistan in recent months, targeting government officials, activists, and journalists.
Afghan and U.S. officials have blamed the Taliban for the wave of violence, although the group has rejected the charge.
Both the Taliban and the Islamic State militants are active in the country.
The surge in attacks comes as intra-Afghan negotiations between the Taliban and Afghan government that began in Qatar in September are deadlocked.
With reporting by AFP and dpa