Afghan official assassinated, another wounded in separate ambushes in eastern province

Afghan official assassinated, 2nd wounded in east

KABUL, Afghanistan — Attackers assassinated a district statistics chief as he returned from morning prayers Tuesday in eastern Afghanistan, an official said, the latest of a wave of Taliban attacks on government workers.

A second official was shot and seriously wounded in another ambush Tuesday, said the spokesman for Logar province in the east, where both attacks took place.

Attackers believed to be Taliban insurgents fled after gunning down Gul Mohammad, chief of statistics for Charkh district, outside his home before dawn Tuesday as he returned from his local mosque, provincial Dim Mohammad Darwesh said.

“Of course this is the work of the enemy, who are killing government officials — especially those who are really the servants of the people,” Darwesh said by telephone.

Another attack Tuesday morning wounded the director of civil service reform in Puli Alam, the capital of Logar. The official was hospitalized in serious condition with gunshot wounds, Darwesh said.

Insurgents have been waging a campaign of terror against civilian officials, trying to sow fear and discourage competent people from working with President Hamid Karzai’s government.

Taliban fighters have stepped up suicide attacks, roadside bombs and assassinations in recent months, as international and Afghan troops begin a security push into the insurgents’ southern strongholds to try to increase government control.

The escalation has brought violent attacks to their highest level since the early months of the nearly 9-year-old war, an Afghan rights group said this week.