Top Afghan anti-narcotics judge killed

KABUL (AFP) - A top judge in Afghanistan's counternarcotics court, working to bring to justice key players in the world's biggest opium-producing country, was gunned down in Kabul Thursday, his office said.

Gunmen shot dead Alim Hanif, chief judge of the Central Narcotics Tribunal appeals court, soon after he left home to go to work, the Counter Narcotics-Criminal Justice Task Force (CJTF) said.

"Judge Alim Hanif was shot on his way to work and later died of his injuries in hospital," it said in a statement.