Afghan governor killed by suicide bomber

Kabul - A suicide bombing killed the governor of Afghanistan's eastern Paktika province and two other people outside his home Sunday, police said.

Three others were wounded in the attack outside Gov. Abdul Hakim Taniwal's house in the provincial capital of Gardez, said provincial police chief Abdul Annan Raufi.

Taliban-led militants have stepped up attacks in Afghanistan this year, including suicide bombings. More than 100 Taliban fighters raided a government compound in western Afghanistan early Sunday, while NATO and Afghan forces killed 94 Taliban fighters in airstrikes and ground attacks in southern Afghanistan, police and military alliance sources said.

Taliban fighters riding in pickup trucks and firing rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles attacked the compound in the Farah provincial town of Kalaigar at about 1 a.m., said provincial police chief Sayed Agha. Two police were killed by the Taliban, who also burned two rooms of the compound and a health clinic in the town, said Agha.

Resurgent Taliban fighters have been most active in southern provinces. But attacks have started occurring in the west amid intense NATO military operations targeting Taliban in southern provinces like Kandahar and Helmand.

94 militants were killed in Kandahar province's Panjwayi and neighboring Zhari districts late Saturday and early Sunday and were separate to more than 40 Taliban who died in fighting in the same areas earlier Saturday, NATO spokesman Maj. Scott Lundy said.

The killings were part of a NATO-led Operation called Operation Medusa, which began Sept. 2 and has killed at least 420 insurgents, according to the alliance. Purported Taliban spokesmen have disputed the high death counts.

On Friday, a bomber in a car rammed into a U.S. military convoy near the U.S. Embassy, killing 16 people in the deadliest suicide attack since the fall of the hardline Islamic regime in late 2001.

A purported Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for Friday's attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the assassination of the Paktika governor.

The attacker, with explosives attached to his body, ran towards the governor's car and detonated the bomb as he was leaving the house, Raufi said.

Also killed were a bodyguard and Taniwal's secretary, who were riding in the car, said Interior Ministry spokesman Yousef Stanezai.

Three police on duty at the house were wounded, he said. -- The Associated Press

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