Four women, including activist, killed in Afghanistan

KABUL: Four women have been killed in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a spokesman for the Taliban government said on Saturday, as local sources identified at least one of the victims as a rights activist. Two suspects have been arrested after the four bodies were found at a house in the city, interior ministry spokesman Qari Sayed Khosti said. "The arrested people have admitted in initial interrogation that the women were invited to the house by them. Further investigations are underway and the case has been referred to court," he said.

Sources in Mazar-i-Sharif said that one of the dead was a women´s rights activist and university lecturer, Frozan Safi. "I knew one of those women, Frozan Safi," a female employee of an international organisation told AFP, on condition of anonymity. "She was also a women´s activist, really well known in the city."

The source said that three weeks ago she had received a call from someone pretending to offer assistance in her efforts to get to safety abroad. "He knew all information about me, asked me to send my documents, wanted me to fill a questionnaire, pretending to be an official of my office in charge of giving info to the US for my evacuation," she said.