Tuesday, 15 October 2013

Bomb at Eid prayers kills Afghan provincial governor: official

PULI ALAM: A bomb hidden in a microphone killed an Afghan provincial governor Tuesday as he made a speech at a mosque after Eid prayers in Logar, close to the capital Kabul, officials said.

"This morning, governor Arsala Jamal was delivering a speech after Eid prayers when he was killed by a bomb planted in the microphone," Logar provincial governor spokesman Din Mohammad Darwish told AFP. "Eight other people have been wounded."

No group claimed immediate responsibility for the blast, though Taliban militants often target government officials as well as Afghan soldiers and police.

Eid ul Adha is a major public holiday across the Muslim world, with mosques packed with devotees marking the prophet Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son when God ordered him to.

Sheep and goats are sacrificed in many households and the meat distributed among family, friends and the poor.