by Farid Behbud
KABUL, April 1 (Xinhua) -- About 60 people lost their lives and many others wounded in targeted attacks across Afghanistan in March, according to official figures kept by Xinhua.
On a single day on Wednesday, seven people were killed in separate targeted killings across the country. Mawlawi Abdul Samad Mohammadi, chief of religious scholars of northern Takhar province, was killed and three people wounded after a car they were driving was struck by a roadside bomb in Takhar, 245 km north of national capital, Kabul.
In eastern Logar province, colonel Fraidoon Fayaz, a senior commander of national army's Thunder Corps 203, was killed and his protector was wounded in a Taliban's ambush.
Two army soldiers, two government workers and a security forces member were killed in separate attacks in Kabul, Kapisa and Sari Pul provinces.
The increased targeted attacks in recent months have caused concern among the ordinary people, particularly government employees and members of security forces.
On Tuesday, three female health workers were shot dead when gunmen fired on a polio vaccination team in Jalalabad, capital of eastern Nangarhar province.
A female medical doctor and three female media workers were killed in Jalalabad during two separate attacks early in March.
On March 21, Zubair Lalandari, a senior official of office of the Afghan Vice President Amrullah Saleh, and four of his family members were killed in a bomb attack on southwestern outskirts of Kabul.
On March 15, four female government employees and a child were killed after a roadside bomb targeted a bus in central Kabul.
On March 7, a policewoman was wounded and her husband was killed in a shooting attack in Lashkar Gah city, provincial capital of southern Helmand province.
No groups or individuals have claimed responsibility for nearly all of the recent targeted attacks. However, Afghan officials accuse the Taliban militant group for the attacks.
A vast majority in Afghanistan have long been demanding operation against Taliban's sleeping cells who facilitate militants' sympathizers to conduct targeted attacks.
On March 17, the personnel of National Directorate of Security (NDS), the country's national intelligence agency, arrested a 12-member terrorist group in Lashkar Gah, who were involved in a string of targeted killings and bomb attacks in Helmand.
About 60 people were killed and many others wounded in targeted killings across the insurgency-hit country in February. Enditem