Kabul deputy governor killed in blast in Afghanistan

Kabul's Deputy Governor Mohibullah Mohammadi and his assistant were killed on Tuesday in a bomb attack on their vehicle in the Afghan capital, in what is the latest targeted attack amid peace talks between the government and the Taliban, reported EFE-EPA.

The attack occurred around 9.40am in the Macroyan 4 area of eastern Kabul when a magnetic bomb attached to the vehicle in which the deputy governor, his assistant and two bodyguards were travelling exploded, interior Ministry spokesperson Tariq Arian said on Twitter.

The deputy governor and his assistant were killed while the bodyguards were wounded, revealed the spokesperson, describing the attack as a war crime.

Arian explained that over the past few weeks they have carried out counter-terrorism operations in the Afghan capital in which they have dismantled several insurgent cells, often seeking to carry attacks like the recent one.

No armed group has claimed the attack yet.

This is the latest in a series of targeted killings of prominent figures in civil society in the country.

Attacks on politicians, journalists, religious leaders, human rights activists, and students have been on the rise for a year, coinciding with a peace agreement signed in February between the United States and the Taliban.

The violence has further escalated since September with the start of the intra-Afghan talks between the Kabul government and the insurgents in Doha to seek an end to nearly two decades of conflict in Afghanistan.

Last week, suspected militants shot dead an a woman journalist and her driver in Jalalabad, the capital city of eastern Nangarhar province. She was also a vocal civil society activist.

Several diplomatic missions in Afghanistan, including those of the European Union, the United States and NATO, released a joint statement last week condemning this wave of killings seeking to silence the diversity of views in the country.

The foreign missions underlined that these attacks were an attempt to silence the diversity of views in Afghanistan, and underlined their support to Afghanistan in its efforts to "investigate and prosecute those who are targeting these individuals with violence."