Afghanistan car bomb blast kills six

Jalalabad (Afghanistan), July 31: A car bomb today killed at least six people and wounded 16 outside a mosque in eastern Afghanistan, but the apparent target, a provincial governor, was unhurt.

The blast took place in the city of Jalalabad where thousands of people, including the governor of Ningarhar, Gul Afgha Sherzai, were gathered in front of the mosque. Sherzai escaped unhurt.

''I was the target and it was the work of Afghanistan's enemies,'' he told Reuters, referring to a term usually used by Afghan officials for describing Taliban insurgents and their al Qaeda allies.

The people had gathered in the mosque to attend a prayer ceremony for Maulvi Younis Khalis, a mujahideen commander who died last week.

The car followed Sherzai's convoy as he was returning after the ceremony. His four guards and two men in the car in police uniforms were killed in the blast, security officials said.

However, it was not immediately clear whether it was suicide attack or the car bomb was triggered remotely.

There was no immediate comment from the Taliban who have stepped up attacks against the Afghan government and foreign forces in recent months, mostly in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

The blast took place hours after NATO forces took charge of security from U.S.-led coalition forces in the volatile south.

Afghanistan is going through its bloodiest phase of violence since the ouster of the Taliban government in 2001, with most attacks occurring in the south.

More than 1,700 people have been killed in the Taliban-led insurgency, drug gangs and coalition-led operations this year in Afghanistan.

Reuters