Afghan police chief survives car bomb attack

An Afghan police chief survived a suicide car bomb attack on his convoy that wounded three officers early on Monday, officials said. It was the latest apparent attempt on a commander’s life in an intense Taliban assassination campaign.

Broken glass and the charred remains of the bomber’s car were strewn in a main road in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah after the attack.

Helmand provincial Police Chief Mohammad Nabi Elham sustained only minor injuries when the car bomber struck as he was on his way to his office at about 7am.

The force of the blast tore off the door of Elham’s vehicle. Three police officers travelling in the convoy were wounded, provincial spokesman Ummar Zawaq said.

“Thanks be to God that it was so early in the morning,” Elham said later in an interview. “If it had been 8 or 9 in the morning, there would have been labourers here who are building a road for a mosque. Shopkeepers would have been here, and how many people might have been killed?”

Taliban insurgents have been targeting police and civilian officials and attacking government positions around the country as Afghan police and army prepare to officially take over full responsibility for security from international troops.