KANDAHAR, 22 April 2004 — An Afghan army soldier was killed and a civilian and a child were wounded yesterday when a bomb targeting the provincial governor exploded in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, police said.

“One soldier was killed and two people injured in an explosion that took place in front of the police headquarters in Spin Boldak district of Kandahar,” provincial police chief, Gen. Salim Ihsas said.

Ihsas said the bomb planted on a motorbike was apparently aimed at Kandahar’s governor who was visiting the border town of Spin Boldak, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of the southern city of Kandahar.

“The bomb was planted to target the governor but fortunately he survived the attack,” he said.

Kandahar’s governor Muhammad Yousuf Pashtun was at the police headquarters when the device went off, Ihsas said.

Kandahar city, some 450 kilometers southeast of Kabul, was the former stronghold of the Taleban militia.

Ihsas did not say who might have been behind the attack, however similar incidents in the past have been blamed on the remnants of the Taleban, believed to have presence in Spin Boldak, which is only a few kilometers from Pakistani border.

Four Wounded in US Firing

Scores of civilians have been killed and wounded by the US-led forces hunting remnants of the Taleban regime since the toppling of the hard-liners in late 2001.

On Tuesday, four civilians were wounded when US soldiers patrolling the area opened fire on a vehicle in southeastern Afghanistan.

The four, two men and two women, were wounded when their “fast driving” taxi came under fire by American soldiers patrolling near southeastern Khost city, villagers in the Nadir Shah Kot district, some 15 kilometers from Khost city, said yesterday.

“The American soldiers fired on the taxi without warning as it drove fast towards them,” one villager said.

The injured Afghans who were taken to the Khost hospital asked for compensation for their injuries and for the taxi, which was damaged by bullets.

“We are not Taleban, we are not Al-Qaeda, the Americans shot us without any reason,” one of the injured men said in the hospital.

“We are asking for compensation,” he said.