Provincial governor escapes bomb attack in south Afghanistan

The car bomb took place at around 11 a.m. local time (0630 GMT) on Saturday when a bomber detonated his explosive-rigged vehicle near a hospital in the provincial capital Qalat, 340 kilometers (211 miles) south of Kabul, as Mohammad Ashraf Naseri’s convoy was heading to the Sheikh Mati School.
 
    "I'm safe and healthy," he told the Associated Press in a telephone call, adding, "The target was my vehicle, but I survived."
 
 
Naseri said a doctor was killed in the bombing, while two of his bodyguards and a student from the school were wounded.
 
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
 
The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. The offensive removed the Taliban from power, but insecurity continues to rise across the country, despite the presence of thousands of US-led troops.
 
According to the United Nations, thousands of Afghan civilians have died and hundreds of thousands more displaced during more than 11 years of long war.