A suicide bomber on a bicycle struck Mazar-i-Sharif on Wednesday, killing four Afghans in one of the country’s safest cities poised to transition from NATO to local control. The attack will likely fuel fears that putting Afghan security forces in control of seven different areas this week is happening too quickly, with violence at a record high in the decade long Taliban insurgency. Police and ministry officials said the attack in the centre of the northern city, close to its famous Blue Mosque, also injured 11 people and shattered shop windows. “He was a suicide attacker. T
he target is unknown. Investigations continue,” said interior ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqi, who gave the toll and said all the casualties were civilians. Bicycle parts were scattered across the ground, which was covered in glass shards and spatters of blood. A police spokesman for Balkh province, of which Mazar is the capital, said the transition ceremony would go ahead this weekend but conceded to harbouring fears over insurgent activity in other parts of the province.
“The enemy have stepped up its efforts to creat chaos and disrupt the transition of security,” said spokesman Shir Jan Durani, assuring the media that the police were fully in charge. “We are, however, concerned about the security of some volatile districts in the province as there are not sufficient number of security forces to foil any major attempt by the enemy,” he admitted, urging the national ministries and NATO to provide more equipment for fledgling forces. He also played down Wednesday’s attack as an “accident”, saying the explosives had detonated prematurely when the bicycle collided with a car. “There were no Afghan or foreign troops present at the time, so we believe the explosion was accidental, the attacker had probably planned to carry out the attack somewhere else,” he said.
In the neighbouring province of Kandahar — birthplace of the Taliban and the scene of last week’s shock assassination of the Afghan president’s brother — a gunbattle early Wednesday killed three policemen and two insurgents. The Taliban also accused the United States of hacking their mobile phones after a text message purportedly from one of the militants’ spokesmen said their reclusive leader Mullah Omar was dead. Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that Omar was alive, and that the text message and an email also seemingly from the Taliban saying he had died from a heart condition were false.
