GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) — An Afghan district governor was shot dead Monday by two men on a motorcycle, a government official said, in a killing claimed by the insurgent Taliban movement.
The governor of the volatile Andar district in the province of Ghazni, south of Kabul, was killed as he left his home, provincial government spokesman Ismail Jahangir told AFP.
"Abdul Rahim Desiwal was moving to Ghazni town ... when he was attacked by two motorcycle riders and he was he martyred and his guard was wounded," he said. "This is the Taliban's work."
A spokesman for the Taliban confirmed the militia had carried out the assassination.
"Our men killed Abdul Rahim Desiwal when he left his house," Zabihullah Mujahed said.
The Taliban, in government between 1996 and 2001, are waging an insurgency that has seen dozens of officials assassinated.
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