Afghans hunt German journalists' killers

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, Oct 8 (Reuters) Authorities in Afghanistan have identified up to six people they want to question about the killing of two German journalists shot dead while camping, a senior official said today.

The two Germans, a man and woman, were killed in the early hours of yesterday when gunmen attacked them in their tent in Baghlan province, about 120 km north of Kabul.

''We have identified from four to six people in the area where the attack took place,'' said the governor of Baghlan, Sayed Ikram Mahsomi. ''We are going to make arrests as soon as we get more information.'' The Germans had not been robbed, Mahsomi said, adding the attackers were ''government opponents''.

''They just wanted to kill them to disrupt security,'' he said.

Violence has surged across Afghanistan this year, mostly in the south and east where Taliban militants have been battling foreign and government troops.

Attacks have also taken place in Kabul, the west and the north but Baghlan had been quiet recently.

Crime has surged across Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban five years ago.

Afghan authorities said the two journalists worked for the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. They were travelling from Baghlan to the central province of Bamiyan when they stopped to camp for the night on Friday evening.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, said the Taliban were not responsible.

The two journalists had just spent some time with German NATO troops in the north of the country. Germany has a contingent of about 2,750 troops with NATO's Afghan mission.

Reuters PB DB1819