A British employee of the international courier company DHL and two other workers were shot dead today, in an ambush at the company's depot in the Sher Pur area of Kabul.

The British worker was named as David Giles by the Foreign Office in London. His next of kin have been informed. Giles and a South African colleague, were identified as the director and deputy director for DHL in Afghanistan by an Interior Ministry spokesman

They were hit in their vehicle as they were apparently pulling into their office after a shootout between Afghan guards and unknown gunmen. The other fatalities were South African and Afghan nationals. Two Afghans were also injured.

Julia Wilson, the ex-wife of David Giles, said he had worked for DHL in Iraq and Afghanistan. He had been living in Bahrain with his parents and a brother and sister. The couple, who divorced three years ago, have a 10-year-old son. Wilson, speaking from her home in Hull, said: "I am just deeply shocked. I was married to that man, he is my son's father. I can't believe what happened."

Thirteen arrests, including DHL guards and employees, were made, according to the Interior Ministry spokesman who said it wasn’t yet clear who was behind the shooting or why it happened. A Taliban spokesman said the militia was not involved.

The killings appeared not to be targeted and dissimilar to the fatal shooting of aid worker Gayle Williams, who held joint British, South African nationality, earlier this week.

Williams, 34, worked with disabled Afghans with the group SERVE - Serving Emergency Relief and Vocational Enterprises - which has since suspended operations in Afghanistan. The Taliban immediately claimed responsibility claiming Williams had been preaching Christianity.

Her mother and sister appeared at a brief news conference in Kabul Saturday ahead of a funeral planned for tomorrow.

“If Gayle could talk with us now her view would not have changed,” said her sister Karen. “Her faith in the Afghan people would remain the same. I know Gayle would forgive those responsible for this act and would tell us not to hold a grudge against them. We also forgive them, just as Gayle would have done.”

Security has deteriorated around Afghanistan in the last two years, although violence against Westerners in the capital has been relatively rare. The Sher Pur area, where many foreigners live, had been considered one of the safer areas of the city.

International security companies are now warning clients in Kabul about intelligence indicating that militants are planning a large-scale attack on a restaurant popular with Westerners.

The latest attacks and a number of high profile kidnappings in the Afghan capital in the last week, come after President Hamid Karzai appointed a new interior minister, responsible for policing, in an effort to clean up widespread corruption at the ministry.

Turkey’s foreign minister confirmed three Turkish nationals working on a communications project were kidnapped in the eastern province of Khost on Thursday. In the southern province of Ghazni, two aid workers from Bangladesh were kidnapped Thursday.

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