KABUL, Afghanistan

A woman police officer was shot dead in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, just days after three women members of a polio vaccination team were killed in the same locality.

The incident occurred during morning rush hours in Jalalabad, the capital city of Nangarhar, said a provincial police spokesman.

Farid Khan said the woman police officer was shot in the third district and died in hospital hours later. He identified the victim as Basina who had served for over a decade in the police force.

While there has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, local authorities claimed to have arrested two suspects in connection with the killing.

On Tuesday, three women members of a polio vaccination team were shot dead by unknown assailants in the same city. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for that attack either.

At least 3 soldiers killed as Taliban shot down copter

Amid efforts to revive the stalled peace process, the Taliban said they shot down an Afghan Air Force (AAF) helicopter in the restive southern province of Afghanistan on Thursday.

They said in an online statement that they shot down the helicopter in the Helmand province, killing four security personnel on board. It added that the Black Hawk helicopter was conducting an operation against them when it was shot down.

The country’s Defense Ministry in a statement said the helicopter crash-landed in the Nahr-e-Siraj district of the province, and authorities have launched an investigation into the incident.

After an initial rejection of casualties, the ministry later confirmed that three service members were killed in the incident.

Last month, Ali Pur, an ethnic Shia Hazara militia commander in central Afghanistan, shot down an AAF helicopter, killing nine security forces and crew members on board.

In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency, Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem has threatened the US and the Afghan government of nationwide attacks if all foreign forces do no leave Afghanistan in line with the Doha Agreement.