At least nine people were killed and three injured in separate attacks in Afghanistan, an official said Monday.
"Local leader Mohammad Habbas and two of his bodyguards were killed in Andar district of Ghazni province in a clash Monday," Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, deputy provincial governor, told Xinhua, adding three anti-Taliban fighters were wounded in the engagement.
Two staff members of Afghan National Solidarity Programme (NSP) were shot dead late Sunday in Takhta Pul district of southern province of Kandahar. They were kidnapped last week.
Three other kidnapped workers were released by the militants.
The NSP programme is an initiative of the government which aims to rehabilitate and develop far-flung villages in the war-torn country.
