Afghanistan/Pakistan

Six dead, 42 wounded in Kandahar bombing

Article published on the 2008-11-12 Latest update 2008-11-12 14:43 TU

US soldiers in Afghanistan
(Photo: Reuters)

A bomb-filled tanker killed six people and wounded 42 in an attack on the provincial council office of the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, according to provincial officials. The blast left a crater four metres deep and eight metres wide in the road outside the building. Also in Kandahar, two men on a motorbike threw acid at girls walking to school, wounding 15 of them and leaving three in a serious condition.

Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai and head of the provincial council, was in the building when the blast went off but was unharmed.

Among the dead were an intelligence employee, two guards and three passers-by, including a woman, officials say. Most of those injured were civilians who had come to the office for business or were in surrounding buildings.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.

President Karzai condemned the bombing and the acid attack as "ruthless attacks by the enemies of peace and prosperity in Afghanistan".

In the northern Pakistani city of Peshawar a US development worker and his driver were shot dead. Officials say that he worked for FDP, a US-funded programme working in tribal areas on the Afghan border.

Fighting in Pakistan's Bajaur district reportedly left four Islamist fighters dead on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Pakistani military says that on Wednesday eight Taliban fighters and one soldier were killed in the north-western Swat valley, where the army and the Taliban have been fighting for several months.