Roadside Bomb Strikes Afghan Gov's Convoy

Kandahar official survives attack on holiest Muslim holiday
By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 27, 2009 11:50 AM CST
Roadside Bomb Strikes Afghan Gov's Convoy
Afghans leave the Eid Gah mosque after offering Eid al-Adha prayers in Kabul.   (AP Photo)

The governor of Kandahar narrowly escaped death today when a roadside bomb exploded underneath his convoy. Turyalai Wesa was on his way to prayers on the first day of Eid al-Adha, the holiest holiday on the Muslim calendar. Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban, a violent Afghan hotspot, and the likely destination of many of the extra troops whose deployment President Obama is expected to authorize next week.

The attack came as Hamid Karzai urged his countrymen to lay down their arms and reintegrate into society. “To all our brothers who stand armed against the country,” the president said in an Eid al-Adha message, “I hope that for the sake of peace, stability and development, they return to the national fold and to their families.” Wesa was unharmed in the attack, the Los Angeles Times notes, though a bodyguard was injured. (More Afghanistan war stories.)

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