District intelligence chief killed in Afghanistan

Mohammed Hakim, Muqur district's intelligence chief, was killed immediately when Taliban rebels attacked his car.

Four suspected Taliban rebels riding motorbikes shot dead a district intelligence chief in southern Afghanistan as he was driving from his home to his office on Wednesday, police said.

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The attack occurred in Ghazni province's Muqur district, said Gen Abdul Rahman Sarjang, the provincial police chief.

Mohammed Hakim, Muqur's intelligence chief, was killed immediately while sitting in his car, he said.

A police patrol nearby returned fire and arrested one of the four attackers. Security forces then pursued the three others into nearby mountains and are believed to have surrounded them in a remote area, Sarjang said.

Hakim is the second district intelligence director to be killed in two days. On Tuesday, a district chief was killed in Nimroz province, but that attack was believed motivated by a personal dispute and was not linked to the insurgency.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks on prominent local leaders as part of their campaign to destabilise the country's US-backed government.