Suicide bomb kills Afghan police commander, 5 others

A suicide bomber killed a district police chief from restive eastern Kunar province and at least five other people in an attack at the gate of a mosque after Friday prayers, the provincial police commander said.    

The attack is the latest in a string of assassinations of senior government and security figures. The most high-profile targets over the last year include former President and senior peace envoy Burhanuddin Rabbani and Ahmad Wali Karzai, the powerful half-brother of President Hamid Karzai.    

"The Ghaziabad police chief, a member of (intelligence service) the national directorate of security, two policemen and two civilians were killed. Nine have been wounded," said Kunar provincial police chief Hewaz Mohammad Nazari.    

In a text message, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and claimed they killed the Ghaziabad police chief and six of his bodyguards.    

It was an unusual claim, because religion is at the core of the Taliban's ideology and they have in the past denied any role in attacks on religious sites, even when they appear to further their military strategy.
  
Reuters