By William Marsden, Postmedia News
What is fast becoming known as the turban war has claimed another high-profile victim as a suicide bomber Wednesday morning took the life of the mayor of this volatile city in southern Afghanistan.
Photograph by: Ahmad Masood, Reuters
KANDAHAR — What is fast becoming known as the turban war has claimed another high-profile victim as a suicide bomber Wednesday morning took the life of the mayor of this volatile city in southern Afghanistan.
"Whoever carried out the heinous act are against Afghans and the people of Kandahar," Kandahar Governor Tooryalia Wesa said in a statement. "But this won't deter Afghans from rebuilding the country. There will be hundreds more Afghans like the mayor who will stand against enemy."
Hameedi was about to speak to citizens who were protesting the destruction of about 200 illegal houses in the city's sprawling northend slum of Lowe-Wala, which is considered a breeding ground for Taliban supporters.
The mayor had launched a campaign against squatters in Lowe-Wala. This sparked a protest Tuesday in front of the governor's palace during which about 200 angry residents of the slum chanted "death to the mayor."
Wahidullah Jan who works in the mayor's office said that he was roaming in his the garden where the suicide bomber suddenly appeared.
"When I heard the explosion, I rushed out and saw the mayor covered in blood and I saw the headless body of the suicde bomber on the ground," he said. "The explosion was powerful. It smashed the windows."
This is the second time this month that a suicide bomber has used his turban to conceal explosives with deadly results.
Two weeks ago a teenage bomber entered a mosque where a memorial service was being held for Ahmad Wali Karzai, the assassinated brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
The bomber triggered explosives in his turban and killed a senior cleric in Kandahar as well as two mourners and injured 15.
It is forbidden to touch a man's turban in Afghanistan because it is considered an act of disrespect.
Also Wednesday, an improvised explosive device ripped into a police vehicle causing an as yet unspecified number of casualties.
The Taliban has recently stepped up its attacks in and around Kandahar City, which is the craddle of the Taliban. The governor and the mayor last week called a meeting with the leaders of coalition and Afghan forces seeks to increase security in the city, but so far to no avail.
With explosives hidden in his turban, a man grabbed Mayor Ghulam Haidar Hameedi after he had left his office and triggered explosives hidden in his turban instantly killing the mayor and a nearby citizen and injuring a man, Zalmay Ayoubi, spokesperson for the governor's office told Postmedia News.
"Whoever carried out the heinous act are against Afghans and the people of Kandahar," Kandahar Governor Tooryalia Wesa said in a statement. "But this won't deter Afghans from rebuilding the country. There will be hundreds more Afghans like the mayor who will stand against enemy."
Hameedi was about to speak to citizens who were protesting the destruction of about 200 illegal houses in the city's sprawling northend slum of Lowe-Wala, which is considered a breeding ground for Taliban supporters.
The mayor had launched a campaign against squatters in Lowe-Wala. This sparked a protest Tuesday in front of the governor's palace during which about 200 angry residents of the slum chanted "death to the mayor."
Wahidullah Jan who works in the mayor's office said that he was roaming in his the garden where the suicide bomber suddenly appeared.
"When I heard the explosion, I rushed out and saw the mayor covered in blood and I saw the headless body of the suicde bomber on the ground," he said. "The explosion was powerful. It smashed the windows."
This is the second time this month that a suicide bomber has used his turban to conceal explosives with deadly results.
Two weeks ago a teenage bomber entered a mosque where a memorial service was being held for Ahmad Wali Karzai, the assassinated brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
The bomber triggered explosives in his turban and killed a senior cleric in Kandahar as well as two mourners and injured 15.
It is forbidden to touch a man's turban in Afghanistan because it is considered an act of disrespect.
Also Wednesday, an improvised explosive device ripped into a police vehicle causing an as yet unspecified number of casualties.
The Taliban has recently stepped up its attacks in and around Kandahar City, which is the craddle of the Taliban. The governor and the mayor last week called a meeting with the leaders of coalition and Afghan forces seeks to increase security in the city, but so far to no avail.
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