by Farid Behbud

KABUL, Oct. 1 (Xinhua) -- At least 33 people were killed and nearly 30 others wounded in a series of assassinations in Afghanistan in September with peace efforts being made, according to official figures kept by Xinhua.

On Tuesday, Nazir Ghorzan, a famous anti-Taliban police officer and former chief of Police District 3 of Ghazni city, capital of eastern Ghazni province, was shot and killed in Ghazni city.

In northern Faryab province, two armed men riding a motorcycle intercepted a vehicle in Pashtun Kot district, singling out a woman and killing her on the side of the road, on the same day. The deceased was the wife of an army soldier.

On Sunday, Sept. 27, two off-duty police officers from southern Uruzgan province were wounded in a shooting attack in Kandahar city, the capital of neighboring Kandahar province.

The civilians supporting the government, civil servants, religious leaders, tribal elders and persons involved in peace and reconciliation efforts came under attack in targeted killings.

The increased targeted attacks in recent months have caused concern among the ordinary people, particularly the government employees and members of security forces.

They were hopeful that the clashes, terrorist attacks and assassinations might decrease after talks between a government delegation and representatives of Taliban kicked off in Doha, the capital of the Gulf state of Qatar.

Since Sept. 12, the negotiation teams of the two sides are working on rules and regulations before the start of official direct talks, however, they did not reach any agreement due to differences on some issues.

On Sept. 26, a senior police officer Ahmad Shah Khadim from Afghan capital city, Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport was shot and killed by gunmen after armed men broke in into his house in Police District 8 in eastern Kabul.

In northern Balkh province, Khan Mohammad, a former Afghan Local Police (ALP) commander, was shot dead in the provincial capital Mazar-i-Sharif city on Sept. 24.

In the neighboring Kunduz province, Abdul Jabar Alokozai and a member of his family were wounded after a sticky Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attached to his vehicle tore apart his car on the same day.

A Kung Fu trainer Zalmay Amarkhil and one of his trainees aged 15, were gunned down and his son wounded by suspected militants in the Kampani area, Police District 5 of Kabul on Sept. 21.

The assassination of Kung Fu trainer in Kabul followed a shooting by suspected militants, who shot and killed a police officer Agha Laly in a garden next to his house in the Zaray district of Kandahar.

On Sept. 19, Colonel Mohammad Asif Tokhi, deputy police chief of eastern Paktika, was killed and several policemen wounded after a bomb targeted his vehicle running to respond to a Taliban attack outside the provincial capital Sharan city.

In neighboring Paktia province, Mohammad Ayoub Gharwal, deputy provincial council, was shot to death inside his car in front of his office in the provincial capital Gardez city on Sept. 19.

On Sept. 15, gunmen fired and killed Major Ahmad Khan, an Afghan army officer, in Police District 8 of Kabul when he was traveling to office before a night shift duty.

On the same day, one university lecturer was shot to death when he was traveling from his hometown Khogiani district to Jalalabad city, capital of eastern Nangarhar province.

On Sept. 14, a former Afghan senator and five of his guards were killed, following an improvised bomb attack in the country's western Badghis province.

On Sept. 13, an ALP commander Jalal Uddin was killed after gunmen fired on his vehicle along a road between Ali Abad and Khan Abad districts of Kunduz.

On Sept. 12, militants targeted the vehicle of Shams Ull Haq, a member of the provincial council in eastern Parwan province, killing his driver and injuring two others. Haq escaped the shooting.

Sayyed Ahmad Safi, an influential local elder and former advisor of office of former government Chief Executive was killed by gunmen in Nangarhar on Sept. 3.

On Sept. 2, Colonel Ahmad Khan, a professor of Kabul Police Academy, was shot dead in Chehilseton locality of Police District 7 of Kabul.

Also on Sept. 2, a suicide bomber was killed and four people were wounded when the assailant targeted Habib Qumandan, an officer of ALP in Wardoj district of northern Badakhshan province. The ALP officer escaped the blast.

On Sept. 1, a policewoman was shot and killed by militants in Kunduz.

Some remaining 10 people were killed and several others wounded in separate targeted attacks in Kabul, Kandahar, Badakhshan, Parwan, Takhar, Nangarhar and Logar provinces.

No one has claimed responsibility for the majority of the attacks.

Militants of Taliban militant groups and Islamic State (IS) have conducted scores of targeted attacks against civilians and military officials in recent years. They consider anyone working for the government and NATO and U.S.-led troops as a target.

Thirty-five people were killed in targeted attacks in September across Afghanistan. Enditem

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