12 killed in Afghan violence, governor escapes bid on life

JALALABAD: An Afghan governor escaped an assassination attempt that killed a colleague on Saturday while officials reported 11 more deaths in Taliban-linked violence around the troubled nation.

The NATO-led security force said it had arrested nine people suspected of involvement in a surge of unrest in the capital Kabul, which has seen six deadly suicide blasts and other attacks in the past few weeks.

The governor of the eastern Laghman province, which adjoins the capital province of Kabul, said that he was travelling to work on Saturday when his two-vehicle convoy hit a mine.

Unknown insurgents then opened fire on the stricken convoy, killing an administration official, governor Gulab Mangal said.

"A bomb struck under our front vehicle. Then we had some shots and our friend was hit. I was in the second vehicle," he said.   

A Taliban spokesman, Mohammad Hanif, told reporters: "We planted the mine. We fired the gunshots."

Laghman and other provinces close to the capital have seen increasing incidents related to the Taliban-led insurgency. 

Three senior district officials were killed in a similar attack in the province of Nangarhar earlier in this week.   

In another incident likely carried out by the Taliban or another Islamic group, police reported that a remote-controlled roadside bomb had killed six Afghan militiamen in Paktia on Friday.