By empty (2/11/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The deputy intelligence director of troubled Khost province was shot dead by a suspected Taliban guerrilla who later blew himself up, an official said, in an incident which underlines continuing instability in southeastern Afghanistan A spokesman for the ousted Islamic fundamentalist regime claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the intelligence director was targeted because he had given information to US forces and was formerly a member of an Afghan communist party. The south and southeast of Afghanistan is the former stronghold of the Taliban and remnants of the regime and their al-Qaeda allies are active in the region. United States-led coalition forces in these provinces come under regular attack and ambushes and kidnappings of foreigners have occurred in the region in recent months.