Gunman kills Afghan woman working for government

[August 16, 2011]  KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) -- A woman who works for the Afghan government in the turbulent south was gunned down outside of her home early Tuesday, officials and family members said.

Rabia Sadat was getting into a car to go to her office in Kandahar city Tuesday morning when a man drove up on a motorcycle and shot her twice and the vehicle driver once, said her father, Sayed Hussein Sadat.

Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesman for Kabul's provincial government, said Rabia Sadat was killed in the shooting while her driver was injured. She worked for the province's work and social affairs department, he said.

Ayubi did not have any information on why Sadat was targeted and her father said he did not know of any threats she had received. Insurgents regularly go after government workers or women who attend school or work in offices.

It was the second attack in Kandahar city -- the former Taliban stronghold and the south's major hub -- in as many days. On Monday night, militants attacked a fuel tanker depot outside the main international military base in southern Afghanistan, killing four security guards.

In that attack, the assailants set off explosives that were packed in a minibus at the entrance of a compound operated by international contractor Supreme Group, according from a statement from the Kandahar governor's office. The compound is outside of Kandahar Air Field -- the base of NATO and U.S. operations in the south.

Four private guards were killed in the fighting, said Salim Ahsas, the southern region police chief.

A call to Supreme Group seeking comment went unanswered.

The compound is used by fuel tankers that supply NATO bases, said Ahmadullah Niaz, who works in the compound.

In eastern Kunar province, meanwhile, a government official said 12 civilians were wounded when NATO fired on a village in an effort to repel an insurgent attack.

The heavy weapons fired from a NATO base hit houses in Qalawal village and injured civilians, including women and children, said Wasifullah Wasify, a spokesman for the provincial government. The director of the hospital in the provincial capital of Asadabad, Dr. Mohammad Farooq Sahak, said that the injuries were not life-threatening but that about six of those wounded would need several days of care before they could be released.

[Associated Press; By MIRWAIS KHAN]

Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report from Kabul.

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