the first convoys of humanitarian aid have arrived in gaza, hours after a ceasefire between israel and palestinian militants came into effect. now on bbc news, afghanistan is in the grip of a new and sinister campaign of violence, in which young professionals 7 often women — are being deliberately singled out, targeted and murdered. all the victims were working to build a country based on democratic values. the government blames the violence on insurgent groups like the taliban, who have their own agenda ahead of the withdrawal of us troops later this year. speaking to families who have lost loved ones, those who have chosen to leave and those living in fear, our world asks what impact this tactic will have on the future of afghanistan. this programme contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting. afghanistan is in the grip

of a new and sinister campaign of violence. young professionals are being deliberately targeted and murdered. it is suspected that the killings are the work of insurgent groups like the taliban and is, who are targeting people, often women, trying to build their country based on democratic values. this year, the united states will withdraw its troops. peace talks have so far failed to reach an agreement and the government accuses the taliban of using violence as leverage, but the taliban

deny involvement. the fear is that if these targeted killings continue, the democratic gains of the last 20 years could all be lost. this school, for children with learning difficulties, was born out of tragedy. it was opened in the name of fatima �*natasha' khalil, a human rights activist. aged 2a, she was targeted and killed. natasha was born in pakistan. one of seven children.

the family were refugees, fleeing taliban violence during afg hanistan�*s civil war. announcer: khalil fatima. cheering. natasha spoke six languages, and after graduating with a double degree from university in kyrgyzstan, she returned to afghanistan to decide on a career.

all the time, her ambitions was that she wants to work somewhere in a war zone. and then i would always tell her, welcome home, you don't have to go somewhere else. her big goal, of course, were that she wanted to be the secretary general of the un. natasha gotjob with the afghanistan human rights commission. she was the youngest so we were the least worried about her. this was herfirstjob. she was just there to start her life. she was so excited. she would always say, "lima, this is the real this is real life."

at 7:30, on the morning she was killed, natasha was picked up by a government car to go to work. within minutes of leaving the house, a bomb attached to the car exploded. both she and her driver, ahmad jawid folad, were killed.

natasha's killing is part of a chilling new tactic by insurgents who identify and target individuals for murder. the victims are all people working to rebuild the country after decades of violence. they are often young and women. they are the generation of social media, they are the generation of internet. they are educated. they don't know how to not be connected to the world. this new generation whose life is like going outside, wearing whatever they want to wear and saying what they have on their mind. but the targeted killings have

shocked and frightened many of them. just months before natasha was killed, in the gulf state of qatar, the united states had been talking to the taliban. as we speak, the united states is also working to end the war in afghanistan and we are bringing our troops home. artillery. after 20 years of fighting the taliban in afghanistan, by now america's longest war, both the us and the taliban

wanted american troops out. with the afghan government excluded, the us and the taliban struck a deal with each other on the terms of withdrawal. the taliban promised to reduce violence, not to attack us troops and to start talking to the afghan government. mike pompeo: first, keep your promises. | in exchange, the americans promised to get taliban prisoners released and crucially committed to pulling out all their soldiers 14 months later, on may the 1st, 2021. that deadline would define the year ahead. helmand is the largest province in afghanistan. it was the site of the most amount of fighting between the taliban, and american and british troops. it remains a taliban

stronghold. elias daei was an award—winning reporterfor radio free europe, well known for his bravery. aged 14 when american troops arrived, he was 33 when he was killed. on the morning of his death, elias was travelling in the capital lashkargah when a bomb attached to his car exploded.

elias lived with three generations of his family. the youngest, his two—year—old daughter. her name meant kindness. as part of the us—taliban deal, the taliban had committed to reducing violence. in the weeks leading up to his death, elias reported on a new taliban offensive in helmand. soon after, his house was searched and the day before he was killed, he sent a text to a colleague believing his life was in danger.

elias is one of 12 journalists individually identified, targeted and killed since the us taliban deal of february 2020. journalists are the eyes and ears of the people. they are the voice of people. ruling powers are always very uneasy and uncomfortable about this, particularly despotic regimes. the taliban for example who didn't even allow tvs back in the days when they were ruling. so, silencing journalism is silencing the whole population.

but elias would not be silenced. no—one has claimed responsibility for his killing. the taliban deny involvement. most targeted killings go unclaimed by any group. unknown armament is the phrase being used but my understanding is that there is a lot of indication that the taliban are party to these assassinations. there is also an indication that there are additional groups that are also a part of it.

the authorities say they are working hard to capture those responsible. every saturday, government officials update the press on investigations. anisa shaheed is a famous tv journalist working for the popular t0 l0news channel. she witnesses violence on a daily basis.

despite losing colleagues to targeted killings, anisa and her fellow journalists continue to work. they are uncertain exactly who is behind the attacks.

back in doha, the taliban

and afghan government had started direct talks — one of the commitments in the us taliban deal. there is one priority for me as an afghan and that is really to see any effort through non—violent means that can end this current bloodshed and this current armed conflict. my personal view, not representing even my family because ijust don't want their life to be in danger. ijust have this problem even calling this process a peace process because it's not a peace process, it's just a political settlement between the strongmen. a peace process would mean healing, transitionaljustice

and listening to the victims, and nothing like that is happening. farahnaz forotan was at the talks, reporting for itv, a news channel in kabul. she is well known as an activist in helmand and has a social media campaign called myredline. she travelled the country asking people what they could and could not accept in a peace deal — their red lines. at the talks in doha, farahnaz interviewed a member of the taliban. she was not wearing a veil and this attracted a lot of media attention.

two months later, she got a call saying she was on a hit—list, her life was in danger. she's now living in the united states. like dozens of young professionals fearing they could be targeted, she left afghanistan, but it was not an easy decision.

at the start of the year, a new american president took office. preserve, protect and defend... ...the constitution of the united states. ...the constitution of the united states. so help you god. so help me god. congratulations mr president. the question on everyone's mind

was with no political solution in sight, would the new president stick to the may one deadline to withdraw troops? meanwhile, in afghanistan, three television interpreters were killed in the capital jalalabad, the capital of nangarhar, which suffered the worst of the surge in targeted killings. within days of each other, three health workers, a doctor and a police officer were also killed. they were all women. nangarhar had already suffered the loss of malala maiwand, a well—known presenter at enikas tv. she was a role model for young women who wrote her fan mail.

the attack on malala was claimed by the so—called islamic state. in her murder, afghanistan lost another person standing up for women's rights, and a family lost a loved one.

the white house has now announced the withdrawal of troops will be delayed by six months to the symbolic date of september 11. the future of afghanistan now rests on the talks between the afghan government and the taliban. but with no settlement in sight and if targeted killings continue, the fear is that the next generation may be just too intimidated to aspire to become the journalists, human rights workers, and civil activists of tomorrow.

good evening. at least we had a respite from the persistent rain today, although there have been a cluster of showers out and about. by the time we get to tomorrow, we've got another area of rain coming in — not as persistent and widespread as we had thursday, friday and not as windy as well. that low pressure's moving out of the way, but already behind me, we have got the next one brewing up. a little ridge of high pressure, though, through this evening and overnight. we'll find that we'll have quite a chilly night, the showers tending to fade away, certainly becoming lighter. the skies clearing, temperatures falling. last night, we had a touch of frost in scotland. tonight, it could be more widespread. by the time we get to dawn, temperatures even in the towns and cities will be close to two or three degrees in places. so, a grass frost around, although not in the west because by morning, we've got that next band of rain coming in. and it looks like a spell of two or three hours of really quite wet weather, fairly strong winds with it

for a time as well. not as windy as thursday and friday either, but still, for the time of year, some strong and gusty winds. best of the brightness and sunshine will be in eastern areas first thing. that will tend to fade. a few showery bursts of rain will arrive. perhaps the driest weather up to the northeast of scotland, but you can see wet morning for northern ireland giving way to showers. wet afternoon for western scotland, western and southern england, wales as well. it might be towards tea—time, the rain reaches the east, and temperatures nothing special either because of the wind and the cloud. that weather system moves out the way, but hangs around in the north on monday, and then we've got low pressure with us for monday, through tuesday and wednesday. and again, that means that we'll see some of these heavy and slow—moving showers we've become used to this may. so, really rather wet and windy across some northern parts of scotland. slow moving showers elsewhere, moving quite quickly in southern areas, but slow moving downpours in the central areas of the uk because of the lighter winds. 0nly 13—14, which is below par. as we go through monday and into tuesday, it's a similar set—up, although it might be

that we see the showers congregating in central and eastern parts closer to that area of low pressure. but already, we potentially have another little area of rain coming into the south and the west. so, in the sunshine, feeling quite pleasant where the winds are light because, of course, the may sunshine is strong. so, it looks like a showery start definitely, but as we go through the week, it becomes drier and less windy and therefore feeling a bit warmer in the sunshine. by the end of the week, we might have largely dry weather, but it's a long way off yet. as ever, please stay tuned to the forecasts.

this is bbc world news. our top stories... a picture has been posted on social media which — if authentic — would be the first proof since february that princess latifa of dubai is alive. thousands of palestinians return home as a ceasefire between israel and gaza holds for a second day. hello and welcome to bbc world news. photographs on instagram purport to show princess latifa al—maktoum, the daughter of the ruler of dubai who has not been seen for months. in february, bbc panorama broadcast a secret video testimony from princess latifa where she said she was being held as