30 Jan 2011

Bike bomber kills Afghanistan deputy governor

1:35 pm on 30 January 2011

A suicide bomber has killed the deputy governor of Kandahar province in Afghanistan.

Abdul Latif Ashna's convoy was attacked as he was being driven to work in Kandahar city on Saturday.

The BBC bomber reports the bomber rode a motorcycle into his car. Three of his bodyguards were wounded in the blast.

The Taliban says it was responsible.

The loss of a great deputy governor like this is a setback," said US ambassador Karl Eikenberry, who was visiting Kandahar on Saturday.

"What we've seen is consistently Afghan government leaders emerge and the people continue to rally in an effort to establish security in this province," he told journalists.

Kandahar city is the birthplace of Taliban leader Mullah Omar.