Three female international aid workers and their Afghan driver have been killed after gunmen opened fire on their car near Kabul.

The women, of Trinidadian, British-Canadian and US nationality, all worked for the International Rescue Committee.

Earlier reports had incorrectly suggested an Irish woman was among the dead.

The group was driving to the capital this morning when it came under attack from gunmen on a road near the town of Pul-i-Alam, about 50km south of Kabul.


A car cut in front of their vehicle and opened fire. A second Afghan driver was also wounded in the attack.


There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident, the deadliest in years involving international aid workers in Afghanistan.


The aid workers were driving in a Land Cruiser with a clear IRC logo on it.

IRC is an international group which has worked with refugees in Afghanistan for 25 years.

Two IRC staff members were killed in an ambush in the same province in July last year.