KABUL, July 5: Two gunmen shot dead an Afghan parliamentarian near his home in the southern province of Kandahar, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.

Habibullah Sanzenai, a member of the lower house of parliament for Kandahar and a tribal leader, was shot while returning home overnight in the Zhari district of the province, a hotbed of militant activity.

Taliban militants have targeted members of parliament and tribal leaders in the past, but denied any involvement in the latest killing.

“This attack represents an assault on the democratic will of the Afghan people who voted in their millions for peace, stability and progress during historic elections in 2005,” the UN special envoy for Afghanistan Kai Eide said in a statement.—Reuters