KABUL, Aug. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Suspected Taliban operatives have gunned down a woman after accusing her of spying for the US forcesin the restive Zabul province, an official said Wednesday.

    Some armed Taliban militias entered the house of the lady in Mizan district and shot her dead in front of her family on Tuesday night, the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

    The attackers, he said, also took away the father and brother of the accused woman to unknown location. He failed to provide more details.

    But, Sardar, an official at the Press Department of Interior Ministry rejected the incident as "baseless", saying that "we have not received such report from Zabul so far."

    A considerable number of Afghan men and women have been working with American military and firms as interpreters, contractors laborers and helpers in Kabul, Kandahar and other provinces since the US troops began deployment here three and half years ago.

    Taliban militants have killed some 10 pro-government religious leaders and influential figures over the past two months but it is the first time that a woman has been executed by the militants on charge of supporting the Afghan government and US presence in Afghanistan.

    Remnants of the fundamentalist movement whose regime was ousted by US military in late 2001 have warned Afghans to stop working with the US troops and firms or face the dire consequences. Enditem