Kandahar: Two gunmen on motorcycles killed a government prosecutor in the turbulent south of Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said.
The attackers shot Mohammad Azam, the chief prosecutor for Helmand province's Gereshk district, in the morning as he headed out to work, said Helmand province attorney general Khushahal Shapa. Azam oversaw all prosecutions for the volatile district.
The Helmand governor's office said in a statement that the attackers fled and that security forces are searching for them.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but it the Taliban regularly target Afghans working with international forces or the Afghan government as collaborators.
In the east, meanwhile, a NATO drone crashed in the city of Jalalabad, said Capt. Pietro D'Angelo of the Italian army, a spokesman for NATO forces in Kabul. Initial reports indicated that the drone went down because of a mechanical failure, D'Angelo said.
There were no injuries, but a news agency photographer at the site reported that two houses were damaged.
The Taliban claimed to have shot down the aircraft.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, August 21, 2011, 12:45