Afghan police say Supreme Court official shot dead

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KABUL, Afghanistan — Taliban gunmen killed a senior official of Afghanistan’s Supreme Court early Saturday, police said, the latest insurgent attack targeting the capital as most foreign troops prepare to withdraw from the country at the end of the month.

Gunmen shot dead Atiqullah Rawoofi, the head of the secretariat of the Afghan Supreme Court, near his home in Kabul’s northwestern suburbs, said Farid Afzali, chief of the Kabul police criminal investigation unit. A colleague of Rawoofi, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said two men on a motorbike shot Rawoofi as he was walking from his home to his car.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message.

Rawoofi’s slaying follows the Taliban suicide attack Thursday on a French school that killed a German citizen and wounded others during a play condemning the violence.

In a text message claiming Thursday’s attack, the Taliban warned that all civil society groups were potential targets.

Taliban militants have concentrated attacks on Kabul in recent weeks ahead of the foreign troop withdrawal.