Gunmen kill Afghan education director
Tuesday, 3 July 2007
KHOST, (Afghanistan), July 2 (AFP): Unidentified gunmen assassinated a deputy education chief in eastern Afghanistan Monday, police said, in the latest attack on the country's schools system.
Sayed Usman Hussaini was on his way to work in Khost province when he was shot and killed, police spokesman Wazir Badshah told AFP. A friend accompanying him was wounded, he said.
He "was assassinated by enemies of learning and education," the interior ministry said in a statement.
The police did not blame any particular group for the murder but similar attacks have been attributed to the Taliban movement which has waged a bloody insurgency since 2001, when it was toppled from power.
"The attackers have fled the area. Hussaini did not have any enmity with anyone. This could be the work of enemies of Afghanistan," said Badshah.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, denied his group's involvement in the assassination. "This is not our work, we don't do this," he said.
At least 85 students and teachers were killed last year in incidents blamed on insurgents, who also torched 187 schools, Education Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar said in April.
Sayed Usman Hussaini was on his way to work in Khost province when he was shot and killed, police spokesman Wazir Badshah told AFP. A friend accompanying him was wounded, he said.
He "was assassinated by enemies of learning and education," the interior ministry said in a statement.
The police did not blame any particular group for the murder but similar attacks have been attributed to the Taliban movement which has waged a bloody insurgency since 2001, when it was toppled from power.
"The attackers have fled the area. Hussaini did not have any enmity with anyone. This could be the work of enemies of Afghanistan," said Badshah.
A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, denied his group's involvement in the assassination. "This is not our work, we don't do this," he said.
At least 85 students and teachers were killed last year in incidents blamed on insurgents, who also torched 187 schools, Education Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar said in April.