Gunmen kill slain director’s brother

GHAZNI CITY (Pajhwok): Gunmen shot dead a brother of the slain Hajj and Religious Affairs director on his way to central Maidan Wardak province to bring the body of his brother to southern Ghazni province, an official said.

Haji Fazl Ahmad, the hajj director for Ghazni province, was found dead in the Syedabad district of Maidan Wardak on Saturday, two days after he was kidnapped along with two others in the same district on the Kabul-Ghazni highway.

Ahmad, his driver and a friend, who is a school headmaster, were kidnapped on their way from Ghazni to Kabul.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the abduction, but local officials blamed it on the Taliban.

Shafiq Nang, the governor’s spokesman, said that Shereen, a brother of the deceased director, had left Ghazni for Maidan Wardak to shift the body of his brother when he was ambushed by gunmen. Shereen succumbed to his injuries on the way to hospital, he added.

But no one has come forward so far to claim responsbility for the double murder. A Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had earlier said they had investigated the kidnap-murder incident but failed to find who were behind it.

rm/ma

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