Suicide bomber kills Afghan Police chief

AFGHANISTAN: The police commander for northern Afghanistan and two German soldiers were among six people killed Saturday in a suicide bombing at a provincial governor’s office, officials said. The attacker struck in Taloqan, capital of Takhar province, soon after a meeting regarding security had finished. The Taliban claimed responsibility in what was their latest example of high-profile target selection.

The slain police chief, General Mohammed Daoud Daoud, was a key figure in Afghanistan’s recent history. A former military commander of Ahmad Shah Massoud’s Northern Alliance, he oversaw the siege of Kunduz, the final major battle of the US-led invasion that followed the September 11 attacks in 2001.

A former deputy interior minister, when he was the country’s top counter-narcotics official, Daoud had accused the Taliban of profiting from the opium trade by forging an alliance with drug smugglers and taxing farmers.

Kunduz, Sunday, AFP