Killings prompt call for protection of Afghan women

KABUL, June 13 (Reuters) The killings of two female journalists and two school girls in Afghanistan prompted a government ministry today to call on authorities to provide security for women in schools and at their workplace.

No one has claimed responsibility for the killings in the past fortnight, but women have often been the victims of attacks by ultra-conservative forces, not just the Taliban.

''It seems a wave of hostility against women has renewed recently and the targets... have been educated women or school students,'' the Women's Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

It called on the government to provide security for women and girls at the workplace and in the classroom.

Two girls were shot dead outside their school yesterday just south of Kabul.

In the past two weeks a female journalist was shot in the capital, and a colleague was killed on its northern outskirts.

Whereas the situation of women has improved since the days when the Taliban ruled the country, they still face hardship in Afghanistan's male-dominated, tribal society.

While more women and girls have been able to go to school and get jobs since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, they still face threats, either from family members or from factional forces, even in areas where the Taliban have no influence.

One of the journalists killed had been an outspoken critic of some factional commanders.

Last month, the country's lower house of parliament expelled a woman lawmaker who had described the assembly as worse than a stable.

Malalai Joya, 28-year-old women's rights activist, won her parliamentary seat in 2005 elections, and had been an outspoken critic of some mujahideen (holy warrior) leaders and commanders.

Twenty-five percent of seats in the Afghan parliament are reserved for women. There are 68 women among the 248 members of parliament.

REUTERS SM BD1803