Three shot dead in central Kabul

Two foreign nationals and an Afghan were killed in a shoot-out in central Kabul today, the city's deputy police chief said. It was unclear what prompted the exchange of fire, said Alishah Ahmadzai. "Two foreigners and one Afghan have been killed," he said. Two people were also wounded, he said, without giving their identities. A reporter at the scene saw one body slumped in the front seat of a four-wheeled drive vehicle. Blood was pooled just outside the vehicle, he said.

A police investigator at the scene told him there was a second body in the vehicle. It was the second fatal shooting in the city since a British South African aid worker was shot dead on Monday while she was walking to work. The extremist Taliban movement, waging an insurgency against the government of the president, Hamid Karzai, claimed responsibility for the killing but authorities have not confirmed they were involved.

Security has plummeted in Afghanistan in the past years with insurgent attacks on the rise as crime has surged. *AFP