Kandahar Governor Barely Escapes Assassination Bomb
GARMABAK, Afghanistan - A roadside bomb tore through a convoy carrying the high-profile governor of a southern Afghan province Sunday, missing the official but killing three policemen, the governor said.
The newly laid mine struck the lead vehicle in a convoy that was taking Kandahar governor Asadullah Khalid to a meeting with tribal elders to discuss an opium poppy eradication campaign, the governor told AFP.
“It was a new mine. Three of our policemen were martyred and two others wounded,” Khalid said.
Khalid’s own vehicle was not touched by the blast in Garmabak district, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of Kandahar city in an area that has experienced a wave of attacks by Taliban militants.
An AFP reporter travelling with Khalid said he saw the bodies of three policemen. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast.
Kandahar is the birthplace of the extremist Taliban movement that swept to power in 1996 and was later ousted in a US-led invasion in late 2001 for not handing over Al-Qaeda leaders after the 9/11 attacks.
A week ago, the province became the site of the worst suicide attack in Afghanistan’s history, a suicide bombing that Khalid said killed about 100 people at a dog-fighting event on the outskirts of Kandahar city.
Khalid’s convoy was also the target of a bomb blast nearly two weeks ago. The explosive struck one of the vehicles just outside the city, wounding three policemen.
Roadside and suicide bombings are a hallmark of the Taliban insurgency, which was at its deadliest last year and saw near-daily attacks.
More than 6,000 people were killed in the violence in 2007, most of them rebels but also hundreds of civilians.
Meanwhile, the US-led force that is hunting Taliban militants said a woman and a child were found dead in a compound where soldiers had carried out a raid on a rebel commander Saturday.
Several rebels were also killed in the engagement, it said.
Scores of civilians have been killed in the cross fire between troops and Taliban rebels.
(AFP)
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