KABUL – Gunmen shot dead two Afghan women judges working for the SupremeCourt during an early morning ambush in the country’s capital Sunday,officials said, as a wave of assassinations continues to rattle the nation.

Violence has surged across Afghanistan in recent months despite ongoingpeace talks between the Taliban and government — especially in Kabul,where a new trend of targeted killings aimed at high-profile figures hassown fear in the restive city.

The latest attack comes just two days after the Pentagon announced it hadcut troop levels in Afghanistan to 2,500, the fewest in nearly two decades.

The attack on the judges happened as they were driving to their office in acourt vehicle, said Ahmad Fahim Qaweem, a spokesman for the Supreme Court.

“Unfortunately, we have lost two women judges in today’s attack. Theirdriver is wounded,” Qaweem told AFP.

There are more than 200 female judges working for the country’s top court,the spokesman added. Kabul police confirmed the attack.

Afghanistan’s Supreme Court was a target in February 2017 when a suicidebomb ripped through a crowd of court employees, killing at least 20 andwounding 41.

In recent months, several prominent Afghans — including politicians,journalists, activists, doctors and prosecutors — have been assassinatedin often brazen daytime attacks in Kabul and other cities.

Afghan officials have blamed the Taliban for the attacks, a charge theinsurgent group has denied.

Some of these killings have been claimed by the rival jihadist IslamicState group.

Earlier this month the US military for the first time directly accused theTaliban of orchestrating the attacks.

“The Taliban’s campaign of unclaimed attacks and targeted killings ofgovernment officials, civil society leaders & journalists must… cease forpeace to succeed,” Colonel Sonny Leggett, spokesman for US forces inAfghanistan, said on Twitter.

The targeted killings have surged despite the Taliban and Afghan governmentengaging in peace talks in the Qatari capital of Doha.

The Taliban carried out more than 18,000 attacks in 2020, Afghanistan’s spychief Ahmad Zia Siraj told lawmakers earlier this month.

On Friday, the Pentagon announced it had cut troop levels in Afghanistan to2,500 as part of its deal with the Taliban to withdraw all troops from thecountry by May 2021.

This deal was struck in return for security guarantees from the insurgentsand a commitment to peace talks with the Afghan government. -APP/AFP