Taliban militants in Afghanistan have shot dead a relative of a Deutsche Welle journalist while hunting for him, the German public news broadcaster has said.

A second relative was seriously wounded but others were able to escape, it said, without giving details of the incident.

The militants carried out a house-to-house search for the journalist, who is currently working in Germany, DW said Thursday.

DW director general Peter Limbourg condemned the killing, which he said showed the danger to media workers and their families in Afghanistan.

"The killing of a close relative of one of our editors by the Taliban yesterday is inconceivably tragic, and testifies to the acute danger in which all our employees and their families in Afghanistan find themselves," he said.

"It is evident that the Taliban are already carrying out organized searches for journalists, both in Kabul and in the provinces. We are running out of time!"

The Taliban had raided the homes of at least three other DW journalists, the broadcaster dsiclosed.

DW and other German media organisations have urged the German government to take swift action to help their Afghan staff.

The Taliban also knows the world is watching and have become a lot savvier than their earlier rule as was reflected in the first press conference they hosted in Kabul on Tuesday. It was at this press briefing, which was open to the foreign media, that they had announced a general amnesty even for those who had fought against them.

However, the ground reality is that the Taliban are still out for revenge.

A secret UN report also says that the Taliban have launched a door-to-door search for former Afghan officials and those who have been working with NATO forces. They have started troubling their families to get to them.

Also read: Pro-NATO Afghan officials are on Taliban hit list, says UN secret report