Militants Kill a Second Afghan Official

Suspected Taliban rebels fatally shot a district judge in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, a day after militants killed a local administrator in the same area.

Two attackers on motorcycles shot the unidentified judge while he was walking to work in Kandahar province’s Panjwayi district, said district Chief Niaz Mohammed.

No arrests have been made, he said.

The attack came after a remote-controlled land mine exploded early Friday in nearby Shah Wali Kot district, killing district administrative official Mohammed Shafi as he walked out of his house, said provincial Police Chief Abdul Malik Khan.

“The Taliban was responsible,” he said. “Police will solve the case of this terrorist attack.”

Deadly attacks and firefights between Taliban forces and U.S. troops have escalated sharply in recent months.

In an interview Saturday, Maj. Gen. Jason Kamiya, the U.S. military operational commander in Afghanistan, claimed that the fighting had devastated the Taliban’s ranks, prompting the rebels to recruit children and force some families to provide a son to fight with them.

Even so, he said, militants are likely to step up attacks ahead of legislative elections scheduled for September.

“The Taliban and Al Qaeda feel that this is their final chance to impede Afghanistan’s progress to ... becoming a nation,” he said. “They will challenge us all the way through Sept. 18.”

He said the rebels were desperately trying to recruit fighters to replace those killed recently.

“They are recruiting younger and younger fighters: 14, 15 and 16 years old,” Kamiya said. “The enemy is having a hard time keeping its recruit rates up.”