 A motorcycle-borne suicide bomber killed the deputy governor of strategic Kandahar province Saturday, raising fears that insurgents were reigniting a campaign of assassinations of public servants that terrorized the south's main urban hub for much of last year.The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which killed Abdul Latif Ashna and injured three of his bodyguards as he was driving to work in Kandahar city. U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry, who was traveling in Kandahar, and Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the assassination.
– A suicide bomber on an explosives-laden motorbike rammed the car of Kandahar's deputy governor today as he was on his way to work, killing him and wounding three of his bodyguards. The Taliban have claimed responsibility, reports the AP, but the Los Angeles Times notes that Abdul Latif Ashna's slaying raises the specter of last year's wave of political assassinations around Kandahar. The province is seen as vital in the Afghanistan war. "The enemies of Afghanistan cannot stop the Afghan people from development and progress by killing such personalities," said President Hamid Karzai in a statement condemning the attack. "There are thousands of other brave Afghans who will stand against the enemy and serve the people."