In another incident of targeted killings, two government employees in Afghanistan were gunned down by unknown insurgents in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province, TOLOnews reported.

The employees were killed on Thursday morning in the eastern city of Jalalabad, local police officials confirmed the incident.

In a separate incident in the same city, three people were wounded when a vehicle of the border police force came under attack by insurgents. No group has taken responsibility for either of the attacks.

The officials did not provide any further details about the incidents, adding that investigations are ongoing.

Target killings of government employees, media workers, and civil society activists have increased by almost 50 percent last year. The killings through unclaimed IED attacks accounted for most of the civilian casualties reported in 2020.

Five months of negotiation between the Taliban and the Afghan government failed to reduce violence in the country. The government, though, made it clear that the reduction of violence and ceasefire remained the top priority for them.

Taliban has so far refused to agree on a ceasefire unless a final power-sharing agreement comes out of the talks.