KABUL • Unidentified gunmen killed two women judges from Afghanistan's Supreme Court yesterday morning, police said, adding to a wave of assassinations in Kabul and other cities while government and Taleban representatives have been holding peace talks in Qatar.

The two judges were killed and their driver wounded in an attack at about 8.30am, said the police.

A spokesman for the Taleban said its fighters were not involved.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani condemned attacks on civilians by the militant groups.

He said "terror, horror and crime" was not a solution to Afghanistan's problem and beseeched the Taleban to accept "a permanent ceasefire".

Government officials, journalists and activists have been targeted in recent months, stoking fear, particularly in the capital Kabul.

The Taleban has denied involvement in some of the attacks but has said its fighters would continue to eliminate important government figures, though not journalists or civil society members.

Rising violence has complicated United States-brokered peace talks taking place in Doha.

Sources on both sides said negotiations are likely to make substantive progress only after US President-elect Joe Biden takes office and makes known his Afghan policy.

REUTERS