KABUL: Two foreign aid workers with an international Christian organisation were shot dead on Thursday in Afghanistan's western city of Herat, a regional official said.

The attack comes at a sensitive time as Afghanistan audits votes from a disputed presidential election to pick a successor to the incumbent, Hamid Karzai.

Foreign troops, which have been fighting the Taliban since 2001, are withdrawing from the country this year, leaving Afghan forces to maintain security.

“The two women who were gunned down were working in the health sector for a foreign aid organisation in Herat,” provincial governor Fazlullah Wahidi told Reuters.

Two gunmen on a motorbike approached the aid workers' taxi and opened fire, he said. The victims' nationalities were not immediately clear.

The Afghan Interior Ministry said the two worked for International Assistance Mission, a Christian group that has worked in Afghanistan since 1966.

Suicide bomb attack

A suicide bomber detonated an explosive-packed motorcycle in northern Afghanistan Thursday, killing six civilians and wounding more than 20 in a crowded market as shoppers bought supplies for the upcoming festival of Eidul Fitr, officials said.

The attack in Takhar province came as Afghanistan is conducting an audit of its presidential vote aimed at ending an impasse that has threatened to plunge the country into a crisis as foreign troops prepare to withdraw by the end of the year.

“Today morning a suicide bomber detonated his explosive packed motorcycle in Khwaja Ghar district central of Takhar province,” Sunatullah Taimor, the provincial governor's spokesman told AFP.

“All of the wounded were civilians, six were killed and 26 others were wounded,” he said.

Taimor added that the bomb had been intended for a police pick-up truck but missed its target.

Khali Aseer, provincial police spokesman confirmed the death toll to AFP and said: “The victims were shopping for the holy month of Ramazan and Eidul Fitr festival.

“Unfortunately, they were martyred in a suicide attack by the enemies of Afghanistan,” a phrase taken to mean the Taliban, who have waged an insurgency against the government since being ousted from power in a US-led invasion in 2001.

The Afghan interior ministry in a statement condemned the attack and put the number of wounded at 28.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the Taliban routinely carry out similar attacks and have vowed to disrupt the election of the successor to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

On Tuesday, a Taliban suicide attacker riding a motorbike killed five foreign guards in a foreign compound near the outer perimeter of Kabul airport.