KABUL — Taliban gunmen burst into a mosque and gunned down the deputy mayor of Kandahar at his prayers, officials said Tuesday. The brazen attack underscored the immense challenges facing Western forces as they embark on a push to restore law and order in the volatile southern city.
Kandahar and its surrounding districts are the focus of an expected drive by coalition forces this spring and summer to try to expel the Taliban and establish credible governance in Afghanistan’s second-largest population center. The operation is already in its early stages.
In the meantime, serving as a local official in Kandahar has become one of the country’s most hazardous occupations. Azizullah Yarmal, the deputy mayor who was killed Monday night, was the latest in a roll call of dignitaries marked for death in recent months by insurgents.
“Measures are being taken to strengthen the government system in Kandahar; therefore the enemy is trying to target government officials to slow this process,” said Zalmai Ayubi, a spokesman for the provincial governor.
The assassination took place during evening prayers at the Sadozo Mosque, near one of the city’s most crowded markets. Dozens of worshipers were present during the attack, but Yarmal clearly was the target. He was shot multiple times, witnesses and officials said, and the assailants escaped.
The Taliban claimed responsibility and said more such killings would follow.
“We have already declared that those working for the government or helping the Americans will face such a fate,” said spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid, reached by telephone.
The attack came less than two months after gunmen targeted Majid Babai, a popular cultural affairs minister for Kandahar province. Assailants on a motorbike cut him down in a hail of gunfire as he walked on a Kandahar street Feb. 24.
Many of the assaults on government officials and installations wind up killing bystanders while missing their targets. Hours before Yarmal’s assassination, attackers strapped a remote-controlled bomb onto a donkey and detonated the blast as the animal approached a police checkpoint. Three children under the age of 12 were killed, provincial officials said.
