Afghan district governor among 21 killed in attacks

KABUL - A district governor and two others were killed in a car bombing in southern Afghanistan, while 12 policemen and six civilians were killed elsewhere in the country, officials said Tuesday.

Haji Abdul Jabar, the governor for Arghandab district of the southern province of Kandahar was en route home on Tuesday afternoon when an explosives-packed vehicle parked by the side of the road was detonated by remote control, a police official said.

“Haji Abdul Jabar, his son and one of his bodyguards were killed in the attack,” Fazel Ahmad Sherzad, the deputy provincial police chief, told DPA.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack in a statement issued by his office. The president said that the killing was a “conspiracy by the enemies of Afghanistan” who did not want peace in his country.

Karzai travelled to Kandahar on Sunday, where he sought backing for an upcoming military operation aimed at rooting out militants from their heartland.

The offensive in Kandahar, which has been described by NATO officials as the main military push against the Taliban this year, is set to begin by summer when thousands of extra US troops are expected to arrive in the region.

Most of the 30,000 additional US troops ordered by President Barack Obama would be deployed to Kandahar, the birthplace for the militants and former headquarters for their leaders. The extra troops will increase the total number foreign forces in the country to 150,000 when they arrive in summer.

Meanwhile, suspected Taliban insurgents attacked a police checkpoint in Ghazni, the capital of the province of the same name Monday night, Kazim Allahyar, the deputy provincial governor, said.

“Five police were killed in the overnight attack,” Allahyar told DPA. Two constables were injured.

Two more policemen were killed and three injured in Khogyani district of the eastern province of Nangarhar Monday, when they were ambushed by Taliban insurgents, the Interior Ministry said in a

statement.

The police fought back and killed five insurgents and injured six others, it said.

In the central province of Wardak, four policemen were killed when their vehicle was blown up by a roadside bomb, the statement said, adding that one more constable was killed and five others were injured in a similar bombing in the southern province of Kandahar, also Monday.

Taliban militants have stepped up their attacks on Afghan and international forces after the onset of spring in southern and eastern regions, the main hub of activity for the militants.

Casualties among NATO troops and Afghan forces have escalated in recent weeks, but fatalities have been worst among the poorly trained and equipped Afghan police personnel.

Unlike the Afghan army and foreign troops, police are stationed in the most remote areas of the country, where Taliban control is also the strongest.

The interior ministry also said Tuesday that six civilians were killed in two blasts in southern province of Helmand and western province of Herat on Sunday and Monday.