Reuters : Afghan provincial governor survives suicide blast

Afghan provincial governor survives suicide blast

August 22, 2007

KHOST, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The governor of Afghanistan's southeastern province of Khost survived an assassination attempt on Wednesday when a suicide car bomber struck his convoy, witnesses and officials said.

At least three of governor Arsala Jamal's bodyguards were killed in the attack, which occurred close to a base for Western troops just outside Khost town, they said.

Minutes after the attack, Jamal told Reuters he was fine.

"The attack was against my convoy. I am fine, but I see some people in flames in cars ahead of me."

Khost lies near the border with Pakistan and has suffered a spate of attacks in recent months.

Militants also fired a rocket on a NATO military base in the eastern province of Nuristan on Wednesday, killing two Afghan soldiers and wounding 11 U.S. soldiers, a provincial official said.

Hours later, a NATO convoy was attacked in a rare raid in the relatively peaceful western province of Herat destroying a vehicle, a provincial official said, but he did not know if there were any casualties. A NATO official confirmed the incident, but also had no information on casualties.

Violence has surged in the past 19 months in Afghanistan, the bloodiest period since U.S.-led troops overthrew the Taliban in 2001.

Copying Iraqi insurgents' tactics, the Taliban largely rely on suicide attacks and roadside bombs as part of their campaign against the Afghan government and foreign troops.

Nearly 20 people, many of them civilians, were killed in two separate suicide attacks at the weekend in the southern province of Kandahar.

Also on Wednesday, Taliban and Afghan forces clashed in two separate districts of Ghazni province which lies to the southwest of Kabul, the two sides said.

Both sides gave conflicting accounts about casualties.

The clashes in Ghazni came a day after the Taliban unleashed a series of attacks on Afghan troops in Kapisa province which lies to the northeast of Kabul and in Baghlan province further north, Afghan officials and witnesses said.

© Reuters 2007. All rights reserved.