Suspected Islamic militants beat to death an Afghan mother and her two daughters who worked for a foreign aid group, while two policemen died in a blast blamed on the Taleban, officials said Monday. The Taliban, whose ultra-conservative regime was ousted by a US-led military offensive in late 2001, and other Islamic radicals have stepped up attacks since the end of an unusually harsh winter in Afghanistan. The three women were employed at the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee, a microcredit organisation, in the northern province of Baghlan, a western security source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Their bodies were found Sunday with a letter attributed to a wing of the radical Hezb-e-Islami organisation, the source added. The group is led by former premier Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is on the US most wanted terror list.
"The letter said they had been murdered as retribution for working for non-governmental organisations and for their whoredom," the source said.
Provincial police chief Fazeluding Ayar confirmed the badly beaten bodies of three women were discovered. "We have arrested four men who are suspects in this brutal act. The investigation is ongoing," he said.
The police chief named two of the victims as Mehboba and Bibi Shirin and said the third has yet to be identified. The security source said: "It was a mother and two daughters who all worked for Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee."
Two policemen died and three were injured Monday when a suspected landmine blast tore through their vehicle in Shahwali Kot, just outside southern Kandahar city, the former stronghold of the ousted Islamic regime, officials said.
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