KABUL — The governor of a violent southern province in Afghanistan escaped an assassination attempt Friday, even as President Hamid Karzai renewed his calls to insurgents to lay down their weapons.
A remote-controlled roadside bomb exploded beneath a convoy carrying Gov. Turyalai Wesa of Kandahar province as he was on his way to prayers on the first day of Eid al-Adha, the holiest Muslim holiday of the year. Wesa was not injured, but a police officer helping guard him was hurt, the governor’s office said.
The province is home to Afghanistan’s second-largest city, also called Kandahar, which is the hub of the country’s south.
The area is considered a key battleground as the Obama administration prepares to announce the deployment of tens of thousands more American troops.
In a message to mark the start of Eid al-Adha, Karzai appealed again to insurgents to give up the fight and join pro-government forces.
Karzai’s call for reconciliation came two days after Mullah Mohammed Omar, the Taliban supreme leader, declared in his own Eid message that the insurgents would not bow to Western or government forces.
Omar urged his compatriots and the rest of the world to sever ties with Karzai’s “puppet” government.
Western officials in recent weeks have expressed greater willingness than before to “re-integrate” fighters who lay down their weapons, as a possible prelude to higher-level negotiations.
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