HERAT, May 13: A driver and a doctor with a German-based group were killed when suspected Taliban attacked their Unicef vehicle with rockets near Herat on Friday, officials said.

A project manager for the United Nations children’s agency was wounded in the attack, Unicef said.

“The two bodies that were recovered last night were of our driver and a doctor with Malteser, a medical NGO in Afghanistan,” Unicef spokesman Edward Carwardine told AFP. Malteser International is a relief agency headquartered in Germany.

The vehicle had been returning from a routine mission in Badghis with the three men on board.

The injured man was in a stable condition but had to have a leg amputated, the spokesman said.

Chief of intelligence in Herat, Mohammad Mussa Rasuli, said two rockets were fired at the vehicle.

The interior ministry blamed the attack on the “enemies of Afghanistan”.

President Hamid Karzai and the United Nations condemned the attack which the president said was carried out by “the enemies of Afghanistan, at the instruction of foreigners”.

“This despicable act of terrorism was aimed at depriving the people of Afghanistan of their right to health care and ensuring that Afghanistan remains dependent on other countries’ medical assistance forever,” Mr Karzai said in a statement.

“We know of no reasons why this attack should have occurred, nor can there be reason to justify murder and maiming,” said the head of the UN mission in Afghanistan.—AFP