Afghanistan
Afghan MP shot dead near Kandahar
Saturday 05 July 2008
A member of the Afghan Parliament, Habibullah Jan, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on his way home in the southern province of Kandahar.
Special Report Afghanistan's forgotten war resurfacesSaturday 05 July 2008
By AFPUnidentified gunmen have shot dead a member of Afghanistan's parliament in the troubled southern province of Kandahar, a district governor told AFP Saturday.
"Habibullah Jan was shot dead by unknown gunmen while going home" on Friday evening, said Niaz Mohammad Sarhadi, governor of Zharai district.
Jan, the head of Kandahar's prominent Alizai tribe and a former commander of the 1979-1989 anti-Soviet resistance, was killed after he visited an Afghan army outpost in the district, the official said.
Taliban spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi denied any involvement in the killing. The insurgents have been blamed for similar attacks in the past.
"This is not our work," Ahmadi, speaking from an unknown location, told AFP by telephone.
Jan was the 10th MP to be killed since Afghanistan's first democratically chosen parliament was elected in 2005.
In the worst incidents, six MPs were among nearly 100 killed in a suicide bomb explosion in the northern province of Baghlan in November last year.
Another lawmaker was killed when Taliban gunmen opened fire on President Hamid Karzai at a televised military parade in April. Karzai escaped the attack unhurt.
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