Afghan govt worker killed after deadly depot bombing

KANDAHAR: An 18-year-old woman working for the Afghan government was killed in Kandahar on Tuesday, hours after suicide bombers targeted a nearby NATO fuel depot, killing four security guards.

Rabia Sadat, who worked on rural development, was shot dead as she left home in the southern city of Kandahar to go to work at around 8:00 am (0330 GMT), provincial spokesman Zalmai Ayoubi said. She had been assigned to a Western-funded project which aims to boost the quality of life in Afghanistan's deprived villages by improving irrigation and the provision of drinking water.

The Taliban did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack. But they have frequently targeted government employees in a 10-year insurgency against US-led foreign forces and President Hamid Karzai's Western-backed government.