Bomb attack in Kabul

A MAN carrying explosives blew himself up near a powerful Afghan warlord in Kabul yesterday, injuring several people but not the apparent target, officials said.

The bomber tried to approach ethnic Uzbek strongman Abdul Rashid Dostum after prayers on the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha in the northern city of Sheberghan, a member of Dostum’s security service said.

“When the bodyguards stopped him from getting any closer, he blew himself up,” the security guard, Jawed, said.

Jawed, who like many Afghans only uses one name, said several bodyguards and civilians at the open-air ceremony were hurt.