ISLAMABAD, March 2: Seven Afghan tribal elders were shot and killed in eastern Afghanistan last week after talks with a UN-backed commission aiming to establish a new government for devastated Afghanistan, a news agency reported on Saturday.

The private Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), quoting unnamed sources, said the elders were gunned down in Kunar province late on Thursday as they travelled to a feast in Pashad village, some 30km (19 miles) south of the provincial capital Asadabad.

Before being killed, the ethnic Pakhtoon elders had met a team from the commission and two foreign UN advisers in the eastern city of Jalalabad, AIP said.

There was no independent confirmation of the report.

The 21-member commission began to tour Afghanistan last month to publicise its task to summon a traditional Loya Jirga in June. The Jirga will in turn elect a new, representative government for the volatile nation to replace its current interim authority.

AIP said that as of Saturday morning no arrests had been made in connection with the killings. No further details were immediately available.—Reuters