Taliban claims responsibility for death of prison official, bomb blast in Afghanistan
By APWednesday, May 12, 2010
Taliban claims killing of Afghan prison official
KABUL — Attackers on motorcycles shot and killed the No. 2 prisons official in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, government officials said Wednesday. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
Two officials say Kandahar deputy prisons administrator Nabi Gul was gunned down in the Dand Chawk neighborhood of the provincial capital shortly after he left for work around dawn Wednesday.
Meanwhile, across town, a bomb exploded near a police training center, injuring at least three people, said Zulmai Ayubi, a spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the group conducted both attacks.
NATO and Afghan forces are pouring in troops for a key operation this summer in Kandahar, the spiritual birthplace of the former Taliban regime that is leading an insurgency against the Afghan government.
In the Mizan district of neighboring Zabul province, a rocket fired in clashes Tuesday between allied and Taliban fighters hit a civilian home, killing two girls and injuring a mother and son, said Mohammad Jan Rasoulyar, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
