Kandahar Mayor killed by a Suicide Bomber
KANDAHAR: In Afghanistan the mayor of Kandahar was killed in his office on Wednesday when a suicide bomber detonated explosives hidden in his turban, said officials.
He was the second senior official killed this month after the leader of the Kandahar provincial council, Ahmed Wali Karzai, a half brother of President Hamid Karzai, was assassinated in his compound by a close associate on July 12. Mr. Hamidi, the mayor, had been mentioned as a possible successor to Mr. Karzai as factions jostle to replace him, news reports said.
The killing heightened concerns that the tenuous security gains in the violent south are unraveling despite months of intensified fighting by NATO and Afghan forces.
According to Zalmay Ayoubi, an official spokesman, the mayor, Ghulam Haider Hamidi, was killed in his office in central Kandahar, and one other person was injured. The Taliban took responsibility for the attack, news agencies reported.
Mr. Hamidi was close to Ahmed Wali, but many Kandahar residents described him as distant because he had spent many years in the United States.
The Associated Press quoted Sher Shah Yousafzai, the deputy police chief in Kandahar Province, as saying: “The suicide bomber put explosives inside his turban. As soon as the mayor came to work, the attacker detonated his explosives.”
