Links
Governor of Afghanistan's Kunduz province, 19 others killed in bombing at mosque
The governor of a northern Afghan province that has been increasingly beset by violence was killed Friday afternoon, along with at least 19 other people, when a bomb blast tore through prayer services at a mosque in a neighboring province, according to U.S. and Afghan officials.
Mohammad Omar, the governor of Kunduz, was a regular attendee at the Shirkat mosque in Taloqan, the capital of Takhar province, where he was born and kept a home. Afghan officials said they think he was the intended target of the bombing, which injured more than 35 people.
U.S. and Afghan officials here condemned the attack, taking particular note of the brutality of detonating a bomb among civilians in a house of worship. President Hamid Karzai described the bombing in a statement as "one of the major attacks on human beings and Islam."
"Without a doubt, God will punish those people," Karzai said.