Bomb Blast Kills Afghan Lawmaker

By VOA News 19 March 2009

Wrapped body parts of lawmaker Dad Mohammad Khan and others killed in Helmand province on 19 Mar 2009

A roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan has killed a prominent lawmaker who was openly critical of the Taliban.

The attack Thursday killed Dad Mohammad Khan and four other men in southern Helmand province, the heart of the Taliban’s growing insurgency.

Khan was a member of parliament, former intelligence chief and a longtime critic of the Taliban.

President Hamid Karzai condemned the bombing and praised Khan as a leader who worked to bring peace to the region.

Khan fled Afghanistan during the Taliban rule and returned after the extremist government was ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2001.

He is the 10th member of parliament to be killed since democratic elections in 2005.

Elsewhere, international and Afghan forces say they killed two suspected insurgents and captured four others in a raid on an al-Qaida cell in the country’s eastern Nangarhar province. But the district’s chief is condemning the raid.

Bati Kot district chief Khaibar Momand said those targeted were actually civilians. He told the Associated Press that three of those detained are the district’s development director and his sons.

Separately, NATO led forces said they captured 18 suspected insurgents in eastern Logar province, including a suspected insurgent leader.