Militants behead headmaster in S. Afghanistan

KABUL, Jan. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- In the latest wave of violent attacks, the anti-government militants in Afghanistan beheaded a headmaster of a school in the country's southern Zabul province Tuesday night, director of provincial education department said Wednesday.

"Armed militants entered the house of Abdul Habib , the headmaster of the Shikh Mati Lycee in Zabul's provincial capital Qalat last night and brutally beheaded him in front of his children," Mohammad Nabi Khoshal told Xinhua.

He put the attack on the enemies of Afghanistan in a term used against Taliban insurgents.

Some eight personnel of educational institutions including teachers and students have been killed and three schools were set on fire over the past two months mostly in the southern provinces, the hub of Taliban loyalists.

Remnants of the former Taliban regime who vowed to oust the Afghan government and expel the U.S.-dominated foreign troops from the country have intensified their activities over the past one year during which some 1,500 people have been killed.