Taleban gun down intelligence official

Taleban guerrillas shot dead an Afghan intelligence official on Wednesday, the second senior security officer to be killed in 24 hours.
Violence in Afghanistan, already at a high level, intensified last week when the Taleban announced they had launched a spring offensive in their campaign to oust foreign troops and overthrow the Western-backed government.
The provincial intelligence official, Abdul Hakim, was gunned down as he was walking to his office in Ghazni province, south-west of the capital, the provincial police chief said.
One of the gunmen was captured as he tried to flee on a motorbike, said the police chief, Abdur Rahman Sarjang, who said the attackers were Taleban.
Taleban claimed responsibility for the killing of another provincial intelligence officer in the southern province of Nimroz on Tuesday.
Four Taleban fighters were killed in a clash with Afghan security forces on the same day in the neighbouring province of Helmand.