Militants shot and killed a prominent Muslim cleric who had called for peace in Afghanistan along with two members of his family, officials said yesterday, the latest in a string of killings targeting figures perceived as pro-government.
Cleric Rahman Gul, his brother and a relative were gunned down in an ambush on Sunday while returning to their homes in the Chapa Dara district of Kunar Province, the Interior Ministry and provincial police chief General Khalilullah Zaiyie said.
In recent days, Gul, the chief of the district clerical council, had stressed the importance of “peace and stability” across Afghanistan. No one claimed responsibility, but Taliban insurgents are known to target those who oppose their extreme, militant interpretation of Islam.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The shooting capped a weekend of roadside bombings, assassinations, militant attacks and suicide blasts across the country as part of an expected springtime spike in insurgent violence in the war-battered country.
Late on Sunday in Kandahar, a suicide bomber detonated his cache of explosives near the gate of an Afghan Border Police residence.
Kandahar Police Chief Sher Mohammed Zazai said at least three people were wounded in the attack in the northeastern part of the city.
“There was a suicide attacker on a motorbike who blew himself up when he got near the gate,” Zazai said.
Television images of the scene showed a blown-out hole in the wall of the police compound.
Zelmai Ayubi, spokesman for the provincial governor of Kandahar, said at least four border policemen were injured. He said two other suicide attackers entered the police compound, but were shot dead by police during a gunbattle before they could detonate their vests of explosives.
The Interior Ministry said later that the two bombers had succeeded in detonating their explosives, killing only themselves.
Earlier on Sunday, two militants on a motorbike opened fire in the city of Kandahar on a car belonging to a National Security Directorate official who was on his way to work, Zazai said. The intelligence official’s driver was killed.
At least eight civilians died in roadside bomb blasts over the weekend, the ministry said.
One killed five people who were riding in a private vehicle in Chora district of central Oruzgan Province, another went off near a shop in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar, killing three children.
A roadside bomb blast also killed two police officers who were on patrol and injured another on Sunday in the Spin Boldak district of Kandahar Province, the ministry said.
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