Gunmen shoot dead two Afghan women judges in Kabul

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

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The attack on the judges happened as they were travelling to their office in a court vehicle, Ahmad Fahim Qaweem, a spokesman for the court, told AFP.

"Unfortunately, we have lost two women judges in today's attack. Their driver is wounded," Qaweem said.

"The vehicle was transporting the women judges to their office."

There are more than 200 female judges working for the country's top court, the spokesman added.

Kabul police confirmed the attack.

"They were judges working for the Supreme Court," said Jamshid Rasuli, spokesman for the attorney general's office.

Violence has surged across Afghanistan in recent months, especially in Kabul where a new trend of targeted killings of high-profile figures have sown fear and chaos in the restive city.

The latest attack comes just two days after the Pentagon announced it had cut troop levels in Afghanistan to 2,500, their lowest numbers during the nearly two decades of war.