Senior woman official, Najia Siddiqi shot dead in Afghanistan

Najia Siddiqi, a senior official, was shot dead Monday in Afghanistan’s Laghman province, the authorities said.

Siddiqi was the acting director of Provincial Women’s Affairs. She was killed in a drive-by shooting in provincial capital Mehtarlam city in eastern Laghman province Monday morning, a spokesman for the provincial government said.

“Siddiqi was on her way to office when gunmen ridding a motorbike opened fire on her vehicle at about 8 a.m.,” spokesman Sarhadi Zhawak told Xinhua.

Siddiqi died of her wounds on the way to the hospital, he said.

He said Siddiqi was appointed to the post after the former director of the women department Hanifah Safai was killed in a bombing in July in the province some 90 km east of Afghan capital Kabul.

Also Monday, the provincial police chief of southwestern province of Nimroz was killed in a bombing.

No group claimed responsibility for the Monday’s attacks.