Suicide Bomber Detonates Inside Afghan Mosque
Afghan police men stand guard outside a mosque after a suicide attack in Helmand province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, Jan. 31, 2008. A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing Helmand province’s deputy governor and five other people, officials said.
Yep, religion of peace…Mmhmm.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing Helmand province’s deputy governor and five other people, officials said.
The bomber struck while people were praying inside the mosque in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, provincial police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal said.
Helmand’s deputy governor, Pir Mohammad, was killed in the blast, said Nisar Ahmad, a provincial health official.
The blast killed five other people and wounded 18 others, seven seriously, Andiwal said.
Andiwal said Mohammad had just arrived from a meeting at the nearby compound of the Helmand governor.
“After finishing his meeting, the deputy governor walked to the mosque for prayer,” Andiwal said. “As they were praying, the bomber detonated his explosives.”
The mosque’s prayer leader was also killed, he said.
Haji Ikramullah, a witness who was on his way to pray at the mosque when the blast shook the ground, said he saw dead bodies inside and wounded people crying in pain.
Taliban regularly attack Afghan officials as part of their attempts to weaken the control of U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai’s government.
Helmand, the center of the world’s opium and heroin production, is focus of intense clashes between militants and British, American and Afghan government forces.
The mosque blast happened hours after another suicide bomber in a car targeted an Afghan army bus in Kabul, killing one civilian and wounding four other people, officials said.
The blast shattered the bus windows and badly damaged a passing taxi in Kabul’s Taimani neighborhood, said police officer Jan Agha. A soldier was among the wounded.
(AP)
 |
|
