Suicide bomber kills eminent Afghan police chief

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform killed the top police official in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar province, infiltrating his heavily defended headquarters and blowing himself up beside the police chief's car, government spokesmen said.

Khan Mohammad Mujahid, one of Afghanistan's most prominent law enforcement officials, was killed outside of his office Friday, said his deputy, Shair Shah Yusefzai. Two other police officers were killed and three were wounded, he said.

And in continuing fighting in eastern Afghanistan, an international coalition trooper was killed by insurgents on Friday. No further information was released pending notification of the service member's next of kin.

The attack was a hard blow for Afghanistan's fledgling security forces. Mujahid, who assumed his post in Kandahar earlier this year, was perceived as one of Afghanistan's most capable and experienced security chiefs. A native of Kandahar, he was a friend of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a veteran of Afghanistan's insurgency against the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi took responsibility for the attack.

"We told Khan Mohammad several times to leave his job, but he did not heed our warnings so we killed him," said Ahmadi.

Mujahid had survived at least three previous assassination attempts, including one at his home and another as his convoy drove through Kandahar's provincial capital.

Mujahid was leaving his office for an appointment when the attacker leaned in close and detonated a bomb vest, according to police officer Nimatullah Nazak.

The bomber was wearing a police uniform, said Ministry of Interior spokesman Zemeri Bashary.

"The suicide bomber was waiting in the courtyard of the police headquarters when the chief came out to get into his car," said Bashary. "He got close and blew himself up. We don't know how he entered the compound."

Some of last year's bloodiest battles took place in Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold. NATO and Afghan officials say they are expecting fighting to increase as the weather turns warmer and Taliban insurgents return from Pakistan in an effort to regain territory they lost last year to surging international troops along Afghanistan's southern and eastern borders.

Targeted assassinations are also likely to rise. In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said he expected a diminished insurgent force to attempt more opportunistic suicide attacks.

"If they rely much more on suicide bombings combined with commando raids, it means they are not as strong," Wardak said. The Taliban has often squared off with international and Afghan forces in gun battles, but Wardak said that the Taliban's increased reliance on assassinations is a sign of military weakness.

The commando raids to which Wardak referred were on display last week as suicide attackers stormed a different police compound in Kandahar with AK-47s, grenades and an explosives-rigged ambulance, killing six Afghan security troopers.

The Taliban have stepped up attacks on police and other influential government officials, staging scores of assassinations in recent months in Kandahar and throughout Afghanistan. At least 140 government officials were killed in 2010, according to a recent U.N. report.

Last month an insurgent bomber killed Abdul Rahman Sayedkhili, the police chief of the northern province of Kunduz. Mujahid was at least the second Kandahar provincial police chief to be assassinated. In 2005, one of his predecessors, Akram Khakrezwal, was killed along with at least 20 other people in a bombing at a mosque.

President Karzai issued a statement condemning the attack and calling Mujahid a martyr for his country.

"The enemies of Afghanistan are working with their foreign masters to conduct these unmanly attacks against influential Afghan officials," he said. Karzai said Mujahid served his country as a tribal leader and security official for decades and vowed that Afghan security forces would prevail in the end.

"The enemies of Afghanistan cannot achieve anything with these kinds of attacks because thousands of other powerful sons of Afghanistan will continue to protect Afghanistan's peace and stability," he said.

Meanwhile, in the eastern province of Kunar, the Taliban released the remainder of 40 local police recruits it kidnapped at gunpoint last month. About half of the men were freed shortly after their capture, and on Friday the remaining officers were released without injury. Kunar, which sits along the Pakistan border, is a known insurgent haven.

"Elders in Kunar and Nuristan negotiated for their release without any conditions," said Kunar provincial police chief Khalilullah Zaiyi.