Bomber misses Afghan warlord [View All]

[TacticalPeek]

Bomber misses Afghan warlord

Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Friday January 21, 2005
The Guardian

One of Afghanistan's most notorious warlords, General Abdul Rashid Dostam, was almost killed yesterday when a suicide bomber came within metres of him at a religious celebration.

He had finished prayers in Sheberghan, his stronghold in northern Afghanistan where he still holds Taliban prisoners, when a man detonated explosives strapped to his body after failing to push through his target's bodyguards.

Gen Dostam escaped unhurt but his brother, the Afghan ambassador to Kazakhstan Qadir Dostam, was among the 25 bystanders caught in the blast, suffering minor face injuries. Three people were critically injured.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt, citing war crime accusations stretching back to the Taliban's fall in 2001.

"Thousands of Taliban had surrendered, but Dostam and his men killed them," said Mullah Abdul Hakim Latifi, speaking to AP by satellite telephone. "We will attack any Afghans who are allies of the Americans or the present government."

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1395189,00.html