Afghan Senator Rouh Gul Khairzad and her family were ambushed by Taliban on Wednesday in the Ghazni Province of Afghanistan. Khairzad’s daughter as well as her driver were killed, and Khairzad and her husband were seriously injured and taken to Muqur District Clinic for treatment. There is no word about the senator’s condition in the hospital. Senator Khairzad with her husband and family attempted to go to their home province Nimroz from capital city Kabul for Muslin holiday Eid. The ambush took place between Nimroz and Kabul on the main highway in Ghazni province. Ghazni is one of the provinces where the Taliban has a strong present.
Zabiullah Mujahid, Taliban’s spokesman could not confirm or deny the responsibility of this attack and “saying it was hard to obtain information from the area.” On Tuesday, Mullah Mohammad Omar, a Taliban leader, publicized a massage related to Eid and said that he wants a better relationship with the world and would support “modern” education and will respect ethnic and religious communities in Afghanistan.
Nicholas Haysom, the UN Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and acting head of the UN Assistance Mission of Afghanistan, said in a statement “We condemn this attack in itself – but what makes it worse is that it took place on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr, a time of peace and goodwill.” According to Associated Press, Khairzad was elected in upper house in 2010, and she is also the head of the defense and internal security commission.
