2 officials killed in Afghan attacks

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A Taliban bombing killed an Afghan provincial police chief and gunmen fatally shot an official in charge of women's affairs on Monday - the latest victims of a campaign targeting government officials across Afghanistan.

The police chief for Nimroz province was travelling home from neighboring Herat province when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the morning hours, said the chief's secretary Obaidullah, who goes by only one name.

The police chief, Gen. Mohammad Musa Rasouli, was seriously wounded and was rushed to the hospital, where he died of his wounds, said the secretary. Rasouli was returning to his job in Nimroz after a short break in Herat province, Obaidullah said.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the insurgency had been tracking Rasouli. "We are continuing to target government officials," Ahmadi said.

Also Monday morning, gunmen shot and killed the head of the women's affairs department for Laghman province, said Sarhadi Zewak, a spokesman for the provincial government. Najia Sediqi was on her way to work from her home on the outskirts of the provincial capital when she was attacked, Zewak said. She had taken the job after her predecessor, Anifa Safi, was killed in a July bombing.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Sediqi's killing. Police are investigating, Zewak said. A statement from Afghan President Hamid Karzai called it a "terrorist attack."