Suicide attack injures top German military commander in Afghanistan | World news

 

• Saturday 28 May 2011 18.02 BST

• Article history

 

Afghan policemen inspect the governor's office in Takhar province after it was bombed on 28 May. Photograph: Wahdat Afghan/Reuters

A suicide bomber attacked a provincial governor's compound in Afghanistan, killing two German soldiers and at least four Afghans, as well as injuring Germany's top military commander in the country.

The attack in the north of the country on Saturday came a day after two British soldiers were killed in a bomb blast while on patrol in southern Helmand province amid a rise in roadside bomb and suicide attacks as part of a Taliban spring offensive.

The British soliders from 42 Commando Royal Marines were killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand province on Friday, the Ministry of Defence said. Their deaths take to 368 the number of British military personnel who have died since operations in Afghanistan began in 2001.

A spokesman from the MoD said the two marines had been on patrol "disrupting insurgent activity" in the Loy Mandeh area when they were killed.

In the north, the explosion in Takhar province on Saturday took place as officials were meeting in the governor's office complex, according to Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, a regional spokesman for the Afghan national police, who was attending the meeting when the blast occurred.

The German military told Der Spiegel's online magazine that two German soldiers were killed and that General Markus Kneip, Nato's commander for northern Afghanistan, was wounded along with three of his soldiers.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the attack was part of the insurgency's campaign against high-ranking government officials.

Among those killed was General Daood Daood, a former interior minister who was police commander in northern Afghanistan, said Dr Hassain Basech, health director of the province.

The others who died were the provincial police chief General Shah Jahan Noori, a secretary to the governor, and one of Daood's bodyguards, the health director said.

He said that 10 Afghans were wounded, including governor Abdul Jabar Taqwa, a cameraman working in the governor's office, and eight members of the Afghan national security forces. A number of Nato troops were also wounded, he said, but he could not provide details.

Violence has been on the rise in the north of Afghanistan, where there are known hideouts for the Taliban, al-Qaida and fighters from other militant factions. Nato has sent more troops to the north and has been pushing harder into militant-held areas.