Aid worker killed, two injured in S. Afghanistan

A local employee of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was killed and two others were injured Friday after suspected Taliban ambushed their convoy, a US military statement said July 17.

"One Afghan civilian was killed and two were injured at about 1:30 pm Friday when their two-vehicle convoy was attacked by unknown terrorists about 10km north of Qalat," the statement said.

Zabul's provincial capital Qalat and adjoining areas has been the scene of increasing spate of violence for the last three months in which over 250 civilians, rebels, US and Afghan troops as well as aid workers have been killed.

One of the militants, the statement added was "mortally wounded" after the security guards returned fire on them.

No group or individual has yet to claim responsibility for the incident but remnants of the ousted Taliban regime have stepped up their hit-and-run activities against the US and its allies in the war-battered nation.

USAID as a leading American overseas development agency has been carrying several reconstruction projects in the post-war Afghanistan.

Taliban's elusive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has repeatedly warned to disrupt any rebuilding activities or political process run under US clout in the war-ravaged country.

Source: Xinhua