Suicide bomb kills Afghan vice-governor, five others

GHAZNI, Afghanistan (Reuters) A suicide bomber on a motorized rickshaw killed the

deputy governor of Afghanistan's Ghazni province and five others on Tuesday, the area's police chief said, the latest assassination of a government official.

This year has been the bloodiest in Afghanistan since the Taliban's removal in 2001, with military and civilian casualties at record levels. More foreign troops have died this year already than in the whole of 2009.

Militants have also stepped up targeted attacks on officials. An average of 21 people were reported to be assassinated each week up from seven a week earlier this year.

Deputy governor Mohammad Kazim Allahyar and several men traveling with him were killed instantly when the attacker detonated his explosives at the back of their car near the airport in Ghazni city, provincial police chief Delawar Zahid told Reuters.

The bodies were so badly burned that there was some confusion about the identity of the other victims.

Zahid said Allahyar's son, nephew and driver died, along with two civilians passing by on a bicycle. He had earlier said three bodyguards died along with Allahyar's relatives. President Hamid Karzai's palace said four bodyguards and Allahyar's son died.

Another 17 people have been taken to the provincial hospital for treatment and are in good condition, Safiullah, a doctor who goes by one name, told Reuters.

The car Allahyar was traveling in, an ordinary white Toyota Corolla rather than the armored vehicles used by many officials, was almost entirely destroyed by the blast.

The scene of the explosion was cordoned off, but a thick column of smoke was still rising from the remains of the vehicle. Allahyar had already escaped one assassination attempt earlier this year.

Suicide bomb kills Afghan vice-governor, five others

By: John Smith

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