A BBC reporter has been killed in the east Afghan province of Khost, on a day of attacks which left nearly 40 people dead, other journalists among them.
Ahmad Shah, 29, had worked for the BBC Afghan service for more than a year.
In a statement, BBC World Service Director Jamie Angus said Shah had been a “respected and popular” journalist.
“This is a devastating loss and I send my sincere condolences to Ahmad Shah’s friends and family and the whole BBC News Afghan team,” he said.
“We are doing all we can to support his family at this very difficult time.”
Khost police chief Abdul Hanan told BBC Afghan that Shah had been shot by unidentified armed men. He said police were investigating the motive.
Locals told the BBC that Shah had been on his bicycle when the attack happened. He was then taken to hospital, where he died of his injuries.
Shah is the fifth BBC staff member to have been killed in Afghanistan since the country’s devastating civil war in the 1990s. The others are:
