Kandahar, Afghanistan – A suicide bomber exploded his car on the main street of this southern city Sunday morning, narrowly missing the governor of Kandahar province who was traveling with a Canadian military convoy but killing four civilians and wounding at least 12 others, officials said.
The explosion was heard across town and brought more anger and fear to a city that has been rocked by violence for months.
As police cleared the wreckage of the suicide bomber’s car, the owners and workers of a teahouse on the sidewalk beside it cursed the Taliban, the government, the U.S.-led coalition, former Afghan leaders, President Bush and Pakistan.
“They should get together and bring security. We lost a dozen people,” shouted teahouse co- owner Zamari, who, like many Afghans, uses only one name.
Three teahouse workers were missing, including two of Zamari’s nephews, ages 15 and 12, and two more teenagers were wounded, relatives said.
The teahouse, where local workers and visitors from out of town gather in the morning to drink milky tea, looks onto the main street, just 200 yards from the governor’s palace. It was busy at 9 a.m. when the bomber struck. So was the carpenter’s shop next door, where workers and customers were standing on the broad sidewalk.
Mangled bicycles were sprawled on the sidewalk after the blast, and shards of metal, broken glass and shoes were scattered across the road. The teahouse’s windows were blown out.