Three women thought to be international aid workers been shot dead along with their Afghan driver south of the capital, Kabul, officials say.
Police say a second Afghan driver was hurt when unidentified gunmen fired on the two cars the group were travelling in through Czech Army rejects NATO criticism of insufficient support for Afghanistan ...
Violent attacks continue in Afghanistan ...
Czech Foreign Minister calls for struggle against tyranny ... central Lowgar province.
The nationalities of the women are not known yet. It is also not clear who the three may have worked for.
Aid agencies say they are frequently targeted in the Afghan conflict.
An Afghan interior ministry spokesman said all three women were foreigners.
He said he believed they were aid workers, but did not identify their nationality or which organisation they were working for.
The provincial police chief said a vehicle carrying armed men had fired on the group. The bodies have been taken to the governor's compound in the Lowgar capital, Puli Alam.
The BBC's Alastair Leithead, in Kabul, says Lowgar, which borders Kabul, has become increasingly violent recently. The United Nations now classifies the province as a high risk, he adds.
'Grave concern'
Earlier this month aid agencies warned they may become unable to operate in parts of Afghanistan once seen as safe, because of the intensifying conflict.
The Agency Co-ordinating Body for Afghan Relief (Acbar), an umbrella group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), pointed to a 50% increase in insurgent attacks compared to last year.
It expressed its "grave concern about the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan and the serious impact on civilians".
June saw more attacks on NGOs than in any month since the Taleban's overthrow in 2001 and some agencies had been forced to scale back operations, the statement said.
Nineteen aid workers had been killed so far this year - more than during the whole of 2007, said Acbar.
Some 2,500 people had been killed this year, up to 1,000 of them civilians, Acbar said.
Kabul blamed the rise in insurgent attacks on the Pakistani government's attempts to negotiate peace deals with militants in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
Nato commanders have said violence is up by some 40% in eastern Afghanistan since spring this year, partly due to troops patrolling more areas.
(BBC)
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