Official: Gunmen kill judge and his bodyguard in attack in eastern Afghanistan

KABUL – Gunmen killed a judge and his bodyguard in an attack Monday in Afghanistan’s western Herat province, on the border with Iran, police said.

Abdul Latif, a district judge in the province of Herat, and his bodyguard were in a car when they were shot and killed, provincial police spokesman Abdul Raouf Ahmadi said.

Latif was a judge in Karukh district.

Ahmadi said police are investigating the attack and there were no arrests so far.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taliban and other insurgents frequently target Afghan officials as part of their campaign to undermine the Western-backed government.

The Taliban also have vowed to use force to disrupt Afghanistan’s April 5 presidential elections.

One of the contenders for vice-president in the elections is Ismail Khan, a former warlord from Herat.

Khan was previously the energy minister in Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s cabinet. There was no suggestion so far, however, that the attack was connected to the elections.