Suicide bomber kills Kandahar mayor

[GAP]

Suicide bomber kills Kandahar mayor
Article Link
CTV News.ca Staff Wed. Jul. 27 2011 8:31 AM ET

The mayor of Kandahar was assassinated Wednesday in an attack that comes less than one month after Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother was murdered.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for both attacks, which come amid a wave of violence as NATO's military operations in Afghanistan begin to wind down.

Ghulam Haider Hamidi was killed Wednesday at city hall when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb that was hidden in his turban.

The mayor has family in Toronto and spent 30 years living in Arlington, Va., where he worked as an accountant.

In 2007 Karzai appointed Hamidi as mayor of Kandahar, and he returned to his homeland after 30 years in exile.

The fiery official had recently claimed he was waging "jihad" against corruption in the capital of the violent province, and had dismissed a number of municipal officials who were working as engineers without the proper credentials.

He also cracked down on bribery, firing officials who were known to take bribes, and ordered the the destruction of shops that he said were set up too close to the city's famous blue mosque.

Murray Brewster, of The Canadian Press, said Hamidi was equally willing to challenge local powerbrokers as he was to criticize the actions of foreign governments working in Afghanistan. As a result, he was very popular among the residents of the city and had a reputation as a free-thinking, pupulist mayor.

"He struck me as one of the leading lights in Kandahar," Brewster told CTV's Canada AM.
More on link

 

[OldSolduer]

Reading between the lines, the Taliban may have claimed responsibility however what are the chances it was a disaffected bunch of municpal officials who had been dismissed that set it up?

Just a thought. Crime can be a powerful motivator for murder (witness Colombia and the drug cartels) :2c:

 

[The Bread Guy]

Reading between the lines, the Taliban may have claimed responsibility however what are the chances it was a disaffected bunch of municpal officials who had been dismissed that set it up?

Just a thought. Crime can be a powerful motivator for murder (witness Colombia and the drug cartels) :2c:

Interesting you should mention this - two different reporters following up the initial report of the assassination had this to say via Twitter:

• Taliban spokesman was busy calling reporters in Kandahar to gather information about mayor -20 minutes latter they said,they killed him
• When I first call #Taliban spokesman at 10:30 he was asking me "What happened". He didn't have any idea. Seems someone else have kiled mayor

And the Taliban's initial statement doesn't say they did it, only that it was a suicide attack:

– News reports arriving from Kandahar city say that the city mayor (Ghulam Hayder Khan Hameedi) was killed along with several other puppet officials when a Mujahid carried out an martyrdom attack inside his office. More details will be updated later.

Also, a former CF OMLT officer raises another interesting point:

Puts that Danish cartoon in a different light, donnit?

Globe, today:

"[Kandahar] Mayor Ghulam Haidar Hamidi was killed and another person wounded when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a corridor near Mr. Hamidi’s office, said Zalmay Ayoubi, the spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor.

"'It appears the bomber was carrying the bomb in his turban,' Mr. Ayoubi said.

A turban bomber also killed five at Wali Karzai's funeral in Kandahar earlier this month.

 

[Infanteer]

Reading between the lines, the Taliban may have claimed responsibility however what are the chances it was a disaffected bunch of municpal officials who had been dismissed that set it up?

Those two are not mutually exclusive.

 

[OldSolduer]

Those two are not mutually exclusive.

Quite correct. As an example I do believe the IRA was in cahoots with organized crime in order to finance their terrorist ambitions, so that would not be unusual.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Canada's response:

Canada's Ambassador to Afghanistan, His Excellency William Crosbie, issued the following statement today on the murder of Mayor Ghulam Haidar Hamidi, Mayor of Kandahar City:

"Canada condemns this cowardly and senseless act."‪

"Mayor Hamidi served the people of Kandahar with dedication and dignity. He worked tirelessly to bring about peace and prosperity in Kandahar City and throughout the province.

"This is a great loss for the people of Kandahar and all of Afghanistan. I extend my sincere condolences to his family and friends."