Ex-governor in stable condition after being shot

GHAZNI CITY (PAN): A former governor, who received bullet injuries after being caught in the crossfire between two suicide bombers and Afghan army troops, is said to be in a stable condition now.

The attackers were chasing Faizanullah Faizan, the ex-Ghazni province governor, on the Kabul-Kandahar highway when the Afghan army’s 303rd military corps clashed with them in the Pakhtunabad area on the outskirts of Ghazni city, the provincial capital, an official said.

Ghazni intelligence department chief Amir Shah Sadat told Pajhwok Afghan News one of the attackers was detained in injured condition. The pair was in a car with two others men. They wanted to kill Faizan and reach their other targets in Ghazni city, but the army personnel identified and chased them.

The detained bomber was identified as Matin, a Pakistani national, whose confession led the police to arrest another two suspects, the National Directorate of Security department head said.

Sadat said Matin shot injured the former governor with a pistol. Faizan, who was then taken to a heath facility of the provincial reconstruction), is now in a stable condition.

Sadat said a suicide belt and some explosives were recovered from the detainees, adding Matin had reached Ghazni from Pakistan through Torkham border-crossing 20 days ago. He had been sent to assassinate Faizan and carry out attacks in areas where security forces are stationed, the official alleged.

Matin, who was shown to media representatives, however, said that he had been forcibly sent by the Taliban to carry out a suicide attack in Ghazni.

Witnesses said there were three attackers. One was arrested and a second one, who was injured in the clash with security forces, was driven away by a third person, also wearing a suicide vest, in a car, they said.

A Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that Faizan, who led a public uprising against the Taliban in Ander district, was critically injured and two of his guards were killed in the attack.

ma

Views: 51