Militants kill Afghan woman 'spy'

The US forces are said to have suffered five casualties in one week

Suspected Taleban militants have killed an Afghan woman they accused of spying for the Americans, officials say.

Gunmen shot the woman dead near her house on Tuesday night in southern Zabul Province. She has not been named.

Rebels have killed many men in a rising wave of intimidation, but women have been very rare targets since the Taleban fell in 2001.

Meanwhile, a US soldier has died from wounds sustained in a bomb attack in central Afghanistan on Tuesday.

'Invaders'

Six militants burst into the woman's house in Mizan district of Zabul Province on Tuesday night, district chief Haji Mohammad Younus said.

She was a spy for the Americans Taleban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi

They dragged her out of her house and shot her dead before leaving on motorcycles, taking her brother and father with them, he said.

Abdul Latif Hakimi, who claims to speak for the Taleban, said the guerrillas killed the woman "because she was spying for the American invaders".

He confirmed that two male relatives of the victim had been kidnapped but said they were alive.

'Enemy activity'

The death of the US soldier following Tuesday's bomb attack in central Ghazni Province brought to five the number of US troops killed in Afghanistan in the past week.

He died of his wounds shortly after arrival at the US military base at Bagram where he had been airlifted to for treatment, a US military statement said.

Another soldier wounded in the attack is in a stable condition.

The US unit was conducting an operation to "disrupt enemy activity in the region" when they came under attack, the statement said.

A German soldier of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force for Afghanistan (Isaf) was also killed when his vehicle crashed while on patrol, Isaf announced on Wednesday.

Three other Isaf soldiers - two Germans and one Hungarian - were injured in the incident.