Motorbike bomb kills woman, child

2010-07-30 10:49

Kandahar - A motorcycle bomb targeting a candidate in Afghanistan's upcoming parliamentary election killed a woman and a child Friday in the city of Kandahar, police said.

The explosives-laden motorcycle was parked in a city centre alley used by the candidate, and detonated minutes after he passed by, provincial deputy police chief Fazel Ahmad Shairzad said.

"The blast killed a woman and a child, and wounded a second child," he said.

He blamed the attack on "enemies of Afghanistan", a term often used to refer to Taliban insurgents who have waged a nearly nine-year insurgency against Afghan and US-led foreign troops.

Deployments by the United States and Nato are nearing their peak of 150 000, concentrated in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar, where the insurgency is at its most intense.

The parliamentary election was originally scheduled for May but postponed to September 18.

Candidates appear to be the latest targets of the Taliban, who have stepped up a campaign of roadside bombs, suicide bomb attacks and assassinations in recent months.

The insurgents threatened earlier this year that foreign troops, foreigners and anyone working with them or for the Kabul government would be targeted.

Candidate Sayedullah Sayed died after a mosque in the southeastern province of Khost was bombed last Friday as he campaigned, injuring 20 people.

- AFP