Afghan minister threatens to quit after assassination attempt

A top member of President Hamid Karzai’s cabinet threatened to quit after a suicide car bomb targeted him, killing five people, in the latest Taliban attempt to destabilise Afghanistan’s struggling government.

Shortly after the bombing yesterday in the western city of Herat, Energy Minister Ismail Khan railed against the dramatic rise in violence in Afghanistan, saying that thousands of new refugees are seeking shelter in Herat because of militant attacks in outlying districts.