JALALABAD, June 3: Unknown assailants shot dead an influential Afghan tribal chief who was helping to persuade Taliban to work with the new government, police said on Saturday.
Haji Mursalen was killed in a mosque in eastern Kunar province late on Friday, provincial police chief Abdul Ghafar said.
“He was shot while praying. The enemies of Afghanistan were behind the killing,” Mr Ghafar said.
Mursalen had played an important part in the nation’s reconciliation and had persuaded dozens of Taliban in Kunar, a hotbed for insurgent violence, to lay down their arms, the police chief said.—AFP
