Afghanistan suicide bombing kills 18

[marmar]

By ABDUL KHALEQ, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 37 minutes ago



LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan - A suicide bomber struck outside the compound of a southern Afghan governor on Tuesday, killing 18 people, including several Muslim pilgrims seeking paperwork to travel to Mecca, officials said.

The attacker detonated his suicide vest when Afghan soldiers stopped him at the compound's security gate, said Ghulam Muhiddin, spokesman for the Helmand provincial governor.

The bomber had been walking toward a vehicle of the private military contractors who provide security for the governor, said Squadron Leader Jason Chalk, a NATO spokesman.

Nine Afghan soldiers and nine civilians were killed, said Rahmatullah Mohammdi, director of the hospital in Lashkar Gah. Seventeen people were wounded, he said.

The governor, Mohammed Daoud Safi, was inside the compound and was not injured in the attack.

Among the civilians waiting outside the compound were Afghan pilgrims seeking permission to travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, Muhiddin said. The main mosque in Lashkar Gah sits across from the compound.

The rest is at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060926/ap_on_re_as/afghanistan

[maddezmom]

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