A civil servant was killed in an assassination attempt on an Afghan provincial governor today, the latest in a series of attacks targetting local leaders.
The engineer was wounded in an explosion as the Lagman governor arrived for work, which was followed by shooting aimed at the governor, officials said. The wounded man died later.
Insurgents have targeted local government leaders in a bid to destabilise regional areas.
Last month, a suicide bomber killed the governor of southeastern Paktia province, an Australian citizen, in what is so far the only successful assassination bid.
In southern Kandahar province today, a suicide bomber rammed his car into an Afghan army patrol, wounding at least three soldiers, police said.
As Afghanistan goes through its bloodiest year since the Taliban's hardline Islamist government was toppled in a US-led invasion in 2001, the insurgents released a video showing a large, well-armed group fighting unknown troops.
The video, obtained by Reuters on Friday from a source with Taliban links, shows the group's military commander, Mullah Dadullah, walking through mountains and firing a machine gun.
In one scene, several men identified as "spies" -- most of them apparently already dead -- are beheaded and their heads placed atop their prostrate bodies. In another, suicide bombers pledge to give their lives to drive out the "infidels".