KABUL -- The Taliban have shot and killed a woman accused of adultery in a remote province in northeastern Afghanistan, officials said on Wednesday.
Ahmad Naweed Frotan, a spokesman for the Badakhshan provincial governor, said Amir Begum was killed late Tuesday in Yumgan district after being accused of having an affair.
"We strongly condemned the brutal killing of Amir Begum in front of the eyes of her family members," said Frotan, adding that if there was any truth to the allegations, they should be taken up by a court, not armed men.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, an insurgent rocket attack killed a civilian in southern Helmand province, which has seen heavy fighting in recent months.
Three other people, including a small child, were wounded in the attack in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, said Ghulam Nabi Charkhi, head of the provincial counterterrorism department in Helmand.
The attack took place as Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah was about to leave Lashkar Gah with other officials after a visit to assess security in the province. None of the officials were harmed.
In the eastern Khost province, five policemen and three small children were wounded when a police vehicle hit a remotely detonated roadside bomb, said Ghani-ul Rahman, the deputy provincial police chief.
And in eastern Nangarhar province, which border Pakistan, seven people -- six civilians and a border police officer -- were wounded when a sticky bomb attached to a police vehicle went off in the provincial capital of Jalalabad, said Ataullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor. He added that the officer was the target of the attack.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks in Helmand, Khost and Nangarhar.
The Taliban have stepped up attacks across Afghanistan since the U.S. and NATO formally concluded their combat mission at the end of 2014, leaving a smaller contingent of troops behind to focus on training and counterterrorism.
