Abdullah says lost 3 friends to attack

KABUL (Pajhwok): Frontrunner in the runoff presidential election Abdullah Abdullah on Friday said three members of his team were killed in two back-to-back blasts, including a suicide attack, targeting his campaign motorcade in west of Kabul.

Abudullah was leaving a campaign rally he addressed in Aryana Hotel near the Mirwais Field when a car suicide bomber attacked his convoy, killing six people and injuring more than 22 others, according to the Ministry of Interior (MoI).

Addressing a separate campaign rally at the Pearl Continental Hotel, Abdullah said his three friends were among the dead. He called the attack a plot by Afghanistan’s enemies, who wanted to keep the Afghans mourning.

The car suicide bombing occurred as Abdullah and his running mates started leaving the venue.

A Pajhwok reporter at the scene saw a dead body cut into pieces. He said eyewitnesses told him the target of the two blasts was Abdullah’s convoy. Several vehicles were damaged in the blasts, he said.

No one has claimed as yet responsibility for the assassination bid on Abdullah, who lost another three campaigners in northwestern Faryab province to a militant attack.

President Karzai and Abdullah’s main challenger Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai strongly condemned the assassination attempt on the former foreign minister, calling it the handiwork of Afghanistan’s enemies.

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