Helmand police chief survives suicide attack

LASHKARGAH (PAN): The police chief of southern Helmand province on Wednesday survived a suicide attack that left half a dozen people wounded, an official said.

The bomber crashed his explosives-packed motorcycle into the motorcade of Brig. Gen. Mohammad Hakim Angar in Lashkargah, the provincial capital, around 7pm, the governor’s spokesman said.

Omar Zwak said it was iftar time when the attack took place in a square in the Nasri area. Angar escaped unhurt, but four policemen and two civilians sustained injuries, according to Zwak.

About an hour later the attack, the police chief told reporters he was the target, but was not in his car when his convoy was attacked.

He said one policeman was killed and another three policemen and two civilians were injured in the suicide attack.

But an eyewitness, Abdul Khaliq, put the toll for wounded people at four, a figure verified by a doctor at the Emergency-run hospital in Lashkargah. He said the injured brought to the hospital included three policemen and a girl child.

Angar comes under attack around a month after his predecessor Nabi Ilham was injured in a suicide attack.

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