January 15, 2006	Sunday	Zilhaj 14, 1426

KANDAHAR, Jan 14: A suspected suicide car bomber slightly damaged a US military vehicle in insurgency-hit southern Afghanistan, an official said on Saturday, as gunmen shot dead a former Taliban commander.

No US soldiers were hurt in the attack on a key highway in southern Helmand province’s Girishk district on Saturday afternoon, provincial police chief Khan Mohammad said.

“A suicide attacker detonated his explosives-packed van near a US convoy today at around 4:00pm. The attacker himself died but caused no casualties to the US soldiers,” Mohammad told AFP.

Meanwhile the former deputy interior minister under the Taliban’s 1996-2001 rule, Mullah Khaksar, was shot dead by unknown gunmen on a motorcycle while leaving his home in neighbouring Kandahar province, his brother Abdulhah said.—AFP