AKIPRESS.COM - A gunman shot dead a Swedish-British journalist in central Kabul on Tuesday, officials told reporters, South China Morning Post reported.

The Taliban denied responsibility for the killing in an upmarket district close to a Lebanese restaurant in the Afghan capital, where the militants launched a suicide attack that killed 21 people in January.

The Swedish Ambassador to Afghanistan Peter Semneby identified the dead man as radio journalist Nils Horner.

A witness at the scene described hearing a single gunshot before seeing the victim fall to the ground and a doctor at Kabul’s emergency hospital said he was dead on arrival.

Security forces rushed to the scene and cordoned off the street, where there was blood visible on the ground.

The attack came as many of the Afghan capital’s security forces were occupied with the funeral of Vice-President Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, who died on Sunday.