Four Pakistanis and an Afghan working for a construction firm in southern Afghanistan were shot dead in a drive-by shooting on Thursday, the government said.
Three men riding on the back of motorbikes opened fire on the group of labourers, killing five and also wounding another Pakistani and an Afghan, the interior ministry said.
The ambush took place in the Kobi area of Panjwayi district in Kandahar province, a centre for the Taliban-led insurgency fighting to bring down the Western-backed Afghan government and now into a ninth year.
Three "terrorists" riding motorbikes opened fire at a vehicle used by the construction company at 7:30 am "with the result that one Afghan and four Pakistani nationals were killed," the ministry said.
"These men were all civilians and were working for SAITA road construction company," it said.
Local officials said initially that five Pakistanis were killed.
The governor of Panjwayi district, Shah Baran, told AFP the construction workers were ambushed on their way to work.
Abdul Satar, acting head of Mirwais hospital in Kandahar city, said five bodies were brought in and one wounded Pakistani.
Kandahar was the spiritual capital of the Taliban, who ruled Afghanistan from 1996 until they were overthrown in the 2001 US-led invasion. Remnants of the movement have regrouped to wage an increasingly deadly insurgency.
Around 121,000 US and NATO soldiers are based in Afghanistan fighting the insurgents, with another 30,000 due to be deployed, mostly to the south, by August as part of a major new strategy designed to end the war.
A massive military campaign is underway in neighbouring Helmand province, aimed at driving out Taliban militants who run some regions in tandem with drug traffickers.
Afghan, US and NATO leaders have made clear that Kandahar is also slated for military clearance operations that are to pave the way for civilian control as part of the new counter-insurgency strategy to reverse the Taliban momentum.
