Reports from the Afghan province of Helmand say security forces have arrested more than 300 people following an attempt to kill the provincial intelligence chief.
The round-up began after a gunman shot at intelligence chief Amar Dad this week in the town of Sangin, northwest of the city of Kandahar. Mr. Dad was wounded and is reportedly in a Kandahar hospital.
A spokesman for Helmand's governor told the Reuters news agency that authorities made the arrests in order to determine who carried out the attack. The spokesman (Mohammad Rassoul) said those with no connection to the shooting will be freed after questioning.
Helmand province was a stronghold of Afghanistan's ousted Taleban rulers. But the governor's spokesman says there is no evidence to link the shooting to the Taleban or their al-Qaida allies.