Suicide bomber kills Afghan doctor

A suicide bomber has targeted a provincial governor’s convoy near a hospital in southern Afghanistan.

Officials say the governor, Mohammad Ashraf Nasery, escaped today’s attack in Zabul province. But a doctor has been killed and three bodyguards were wounded.

Provincial police chief General Ghulam Sakhi Rooghlawanay says a suicide bomber on foot detonated his explosives as the governor was on his way to visit the hospital.

Taliban and other insurgents have stepped up attacks targeting Afghan officials in a bid to undermine confidence in President Hamid Karzai’s government as US and other foreign combat forces prepare to withdraw by the end of 2014.