Washer district chief killed, guards wounded

LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): The administrative chief for the Washer district of southern Helmand province has been killed and two of his security guards were injured by unknown gunmen, an official said on Tuesday.

Attaullah Afghan, the provincial council chairman, told Pajhwok Afghan News unidentified gunmen attacked Mohammad Zahir Haqyar’s vehicle in the 1^st police district of Lashkargah on Monday evening.

He said the district chief was killed and two of his bodyguards were injured in the assault.

But another source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said three of the four individuals travelling in the vehicle were killed.

Governor Gen. Abdul Nabi Ilham confirmed the killing of the district’s administrative chief, saying two of his bodyguards were wounded.

Ilham said he had directed security organs to arrest the killers at the earliest possible.

Meanwhile, Taliban claimed responsibility for the assault. The movement’s spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said the fighters killed the Washer district’s chief along with a security guard.

sa/mud

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