Two foreign women shot dead in Afghanistan

Kabul, July 24 (IANS) Two foreign aid workers were Thursday shot dead in a drive-by shooting in Herat city, the provincial capital of western Afghanistan's Herat province, sources said.

"Two foreign female staff of a non-governmental organization (NGO) came under armed attack while travelling in a taxi in Shar-e-Naw locality Thursday morning. Their bodies were shifted to Herat Regional Hospital," a police source told Xinhua.

The motive behind the attack and the nationalities of the victims are still unknown.

However, unofficial sources said the victims were from Finland and were working for International Assistance Mission, a non-profit Christian development NGO working in Afghanistan since 1966.

The attackers, riding a motorcycle, fled shortly after opening fire in the city, 640 km west of Kabul.

The aid agency is running health, development and other projects across the war-torn country, the sources said.

"MoI (Ministry of Interior) confirms the killing of two foreign nationals by two unknown gunmen in Herat; massive search and hunt operation under way by police," Seddiq Seddiqi, spokesman of the interior ministry, said in his Twitter account.