Kabul - Unknown gunmen killed a foreign woman when she was going to her office in the western part of capital Kabul on Monday, police said.

The attackers, who were riding on motorbike, fled the area following the shooting, said Zemarai Bashary, interior ministry spokesman.

Bashary declined to provide more information or identify the victim.

But a police official, who did not want to be named because he was not authorized to talk to news media, said the victim was from South Africa and worked with aid organization.

No group immediately took responsibility for the rare attack on Monday. Taliban militants, who were ousted from power in late 2001, have claimed responsibility for similar attacks in southern Kandahar province in the past.

Assassins on motorbikes killed a senior policewoman and a government official in Kandahar city in the past month.

A tribal leader and his son, who had served as bodyguard with President Hamid Karzai, were also killed by gunmen in Kandahar city last week.

Aid organizations have restricted their movement in the country due to increasing attacks not only by Taliban insurgents, but also by criminal gangs, on their personnel and food convoys.

Three Western female aid workers and their Afghan driver were killed in a Taliban attack in an area outside of Kabul city in August. (dpa)