KEY POINTS:
A security guard in Kabul shot dead a British and a South African man before turning the gun on himself, just days after a UK aid worker was killed in a street attack.
The shooting outside the DHL office in the Afghan capital undermines claims that the
US and its allies are making progress in other areas of the country.
Afghan officials say that a local private guard working for DHL opened fire on the company's country director and his deputy as they arrived at the office, killing them, and then turned the gun on himself.
Although a Taleban spokesman denied that the movement was responsible for yesterday's shootings, they will heighten insecurity among foreign business people and aid workers in Kabul.
After British aid worker Gayle Williams was shot dead on Monday while walking to work in a quiet part of the capital, the Taleban said she had been killed for "preaching Christianity in Afghanistan".
That was denied by her employer, the Serve Afghanistan charity, but the insurgents' ability to strike in the heart of Kabul undermines claims that the US and its Nato allies are making progress in other areas.
Washington says that the production of opium, a vital source of finance for the Taleban, will fall by a third this year.
And yesterday Pakistan announced that it had captured a strongpoint in the tribal areas near the Afghan border after a two-month campaign, denying militants an entry point into Afghanistan and other tribal areas that had fallen under militant control.
The effort is receiving American support: US special forces are training Pakistan's paramilitary Border Corps to fight al Qaeda and theTaleban.
But attempts to deny the militants a safe haven in Pakistan are still in their infancy.
Yesterday, returning members of 2 Para, the British battalion that has suffered the highest number of fatalities in Afghanistan, with 12 soldiers killed, spoke of months of intense fighting.
C (Bruneval) Company operated in the area of highest insurgent activity in Helmand province, and became a natural target for the Taleban.
"We had daily attacks when we were inside the FOB [Gibraltar forward operating base], and attacks each time we went out on patrol," said Captain Josh Jones.
"We were the first company to spend our entire six-month tour at Gibraltar and it became quite obvious that the Taleban were out to test us. We had our work cut out."
The company, commanded by Major Adam Dawson, was deployed at the end of March and the first two months passed relatively quietly.
"But then the attacks began, and they were incessant," Capt Jones recalled.
"We carried out 171 patrols during our tour and almost all came under attack. We had mortars, RPGs [rocket-propelled grenades], machine guns and IEDs [roadside bombs] against us.
"One attack was particularly well organised, with one group using machine-guns and another small arms, and the third RPGs.
They seemed pretty well skilled and not short of ammunition.
But, at the end of the day, the fact remains that we fought the Taleban at a ground of their choosing, and timing of their choosing and in every engagement we defeated them through our superior firepower, discipline and determination."
- INDEPENDENT
