3 including university lecturer killed in targeted attacks in E. Afghanistan

Kathmandu: Militants shot and killed three people, including a university lecturer, in two eastern Afghan provinces, officials said Tuesday.

In one incident, gunmen attacked and killed a university lecturer in Khogiani district of Nangarhar province, Ataullah Khogiani, local government spokesman, told Xinhua.

The deceased lecturer of Literature Faculty at Nangarhar University, was gunned down while he was on the way to his duty from Khogiani, said the spokesman.

In neighboring Logar province, brother of district chief of Baraki Barak district and a security guard were shot to death after gunmen broke in into house of district chief Wais Abdulrahimzai in Mohammad Agha district of Logar Monday night, Didar Lauang, local government spokesman, told Xinhua.

The assailants tried to kill the district chief but he was not at his house at that time of the attack, the spokesman added.

The Taliban militant group has conducted scores of targeted attacks against civilians and military officials in recent years. The armed outfit considers anyone working for government and NATO and U.S.-led troops as target.

On Monday, a former Afghan senator and a local elder and five of his security guards were killed in a Taliban ambush in western Badghis province.