Taliban militants killed an Afghan government official and his wife in southern Afghanistan, a government spokesman said Wednesday.
Ata Jan Kajriwal, director of borders and tribe affairs for southern province of Zabul, was gunned down in his home along with his wife late Tuesday in the province's Shajoy district, the spokesman said, DPA reported.
Last month, militants attacked the vehicle of Zabul's provincial director of transportation and civil aviation, killing his son.
In the eastern province of Nangarhar late Tuesday, a raid by national and NATO troops killed two insurgents, the military said. Local residents claimed the victims were civilians.
Hundreds of locals protested early Wednesday in Nangarhar against the killings, blocking the Kabul-Jalalabad highway.
In the southern province of Kandahar on Tuesday, the allied forces killed 10 Taliban insurgents, NATO said.
Violence is on the rise throughout Afghanistan as national and US-led forces on one side, and the Taliban militants on the other step up their operations.