WORLD BRIEFING / AFGHANISTAN

A female provincial official known for fighting for women’s rights was gunned down in southern Afghanistan, officials said. A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmedi, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Gunmen killed Sitara Achakzai outside of her Kandahar home, said Matiullah Khan Qateh, police chief of Kandahar province. He said the four men came on two motorcycles and shot her as she was getting out of her car.

Achakzai, a dual German-Afghan citizen, spent the years of Taliban rule in Germany and returned to her native country to fight for women’s rights, said Shahida Bibi, a member of the Kandahar women’s association who worked with Achakzai.