Afghanistan Watch: Suicide bomb hits governor's compound in Nimruz; another averted in Kabul

November 20, 2007

Suicide bomb hits governor's compound in Nimruz; another averted in Kabul

Another fatal suicide attack in a province that rarely sees them (Nimruz).

Note also the clip on a Pakistani suicide bomber that stopped in Kabul as he attempted to board a bus filled with military trainers. Disaster was averted because of the quick thinking of a guard. MORE

November 20, 2007

Suicide Attack in Afghanistan Kills 7 but Spares Governor By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA KABUL, Afghanistan, Nov. 19 — A provincial governor in southwestern Afghanistan narrowly escaped a suicide attack on Monday, but his 25-year-old son and five of his bodyguards were killed in the blast. A civilian bystander was also killed, and 14 others were wounded, the police said.

The bomber approached the governor’s compound on foot on Monday morning just 10 minutes after the governor, Ghulam Dastagir Azad, had entered his office in the town of Zaranj, in Nimruz Province. He detonated his charge at the entrance to the compound, where the governor’s son was standing among a group of people, according to the provincial police chief, Muhammad Dawood Askaryar. Chief Askaryar said that of the wounded, six were policemen, three were employees of the governor’s office and three were civilians.

Zaranj lies on the border with Iran and has been relatively free of insurgent attacks and the strong Taliban presence seen in the rest of the south and southeast of the country.

In Kabul, security forces thwarted a suicide attack on a military bus carrying Afghan Army trainers and staff members to work. A man wearing an explosive vest tried to climb into the bus, but a man at the door knew immediately that he was not an officer and grabbed him, said Gen. Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Ministry of Defense.

Other people on the street also helped subdue the man and somehow prevented him from detonating. They called the police, who defused the explosives. The man later said he was from Pakistan, General Azimi said...

Posted by Carl Robichaud on November 20, 2007 at 04:32 PM in Afghan National Army, Pakistan, Security, Taliban | Permalink