GARMABAK (Afghanistan), Feb 24: A roadside bomb tore through a convoy carrying the high-profile governor of a southern Afghan province on Sunday, missing the official but killing three policemen, the governor said.

The newly laid mine struck the lead vehicle in a convoy that was taking Kandahar governor Asadullah Khalid to a meeting with tribal elders to discuss an opium poppy eradication campaign, the governor said. “It was a new mine. Three of our policemen were martyred and two others wounded,” Khalid said.

Khalid’s own vehicle was not touched by the blast in Garmabak district, about 100 kilometres west of Kandahar city in an area that has experienced a wave of attacks by Taliban militants.—AFP