REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, KABUL -- A foreign national was shot in the head and killed in central Kabul on Tuesday, a witness and doctor told AFP.

The attack came in a district close to a Lebanese restaurant in the Afghan capital where 21 people, including 13 foreigners, were killed in January.

"I heard a single gunshot and saw the man fall down," said the witness at the scene, while the doctor at Kabul's emergency hospital said the victim was dead on arrival.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack which came ahead of presidential elections in Afghanistan on April 5 and the withdrawal of NATO combat troops by the end of this year after 13 years of fighting the Taliban.

Taliban insurgents claimed responsibility for January's attack on the restaurant in the same area of the city.

Foreigners have been targeted before at guesthouses, luxury hotels and embassies in the city, but hitting a civilian social venue appeared to signal a new and ruthless stage of the Taliban insurgency.

Among the dead in that attack were three Americans, two British citizens, two Canadians, the International Monetary Fund head of mission, and the Lebanese owner of the Taverna du Liban, which was a popular social venue for expats.

It was the deadliest attack on foreign civilians since the Taliban were ousted in 2001. One attacker detonated his suicide vest at the fortified entrance to the restaurant before two other militants stormed inside and gunned down diners and staff.

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