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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan: A bomb-filled tanker exploded outside the office of the provincial council in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Wednesday, killing six people and wounding 42, a governor said.
Wali Karzai, brother of President Hamid Karzai and head of the council, was in the building at the time but was unharmed. "I am fine and safe," he told reporters later.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but Taliban insurgents have carried out a series of bombings in the city.
The explosives-filled tanker dug a crater about four metres (13 feet) deep and eight metres wide into the road, an AFP reporter said.
"Six people were killed including an intelligence employee, two intelligence guards and three passers-by including a woman," Kandahar province governor Rahmatullah Raufi told a press conference.
"Forty-two others are wounded including two female provincial council members. Most of the wounded have superficial injuries and they will be discharged from hospital."
The bulk of the casualties were civilians from surrounding houses or who had come to the council for business, Raufi said.
The explosion destroyed fences around the council compound and knocked down a wall of the building, also sweeping away a security post.
Car dealer Haji Gulalai was at the provincial council office for a business meeting.
"As we entered the main room to meet with Wali Karzai and council members, we heard a big explosion," he said.
"I don't know where it took place and how, but some people were wounded. Wali Karzai was okay," said Gulalai, who suffered a minor head injury.
Ahmad Jan, a teenager living in the area, said the roofs of two houses had collapsed and some people may have been trapped under the rubble.
Kandahar city has been hit by a wave of bomb attacks, most often claimed by the insurgent Taliban, who were in government between 1996 and 2001 and are fighting to retake power.
In one of the most audacious attacks, militants used suicide bombers to blow open the Kandahar jail in mid-June, enabling more than 1,000 prisoners – about half of them militants – to escape.
On September 7, two Taliban suicide bombers blew themselves up inside the provincial police headquarters, killing five people and wounding nearly 40.
Also Wednesday, two men on a motorbike threw acid at girls walking to school in the city, wounding 15 of them with three in a serious condition, the health ministry said.
The Taliban were in government between 1996 and 2001 when they were removed in a US-led invasion for sheltering their Al-Qaeda allies after the September 11 attacks in the United States.
Their insurgency gained pace in 2005 with a spate of suicide attacks across the country, most often in the volatile south.
Attacks are at a record level this year, despite the presence of tens of thousands of international troops and the growing strength of the Afghan security forces.
- AFP/so
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