'Enemy' bomb murders Afghan governor

The governor of Afghanistan's Logar province was killed in a suicide attack near Kabul on Saturday, government officials said, blaming the attack on the "enemies of Afghanistan".

Logar police chief, Ghulam Mustafa, said the governor was struck by a suicide car bomb near his home in the Paghman area near the city.

"He was targeted by a suicide bomber in which he, a driver and a police (guard) were martyred," Mustafa said. The governor had apparently been on his way to parliament, he said.

The interior ministry, however, said it was a roadside bomb. "This morning his car hit a bomb on the side of the road. The governor has been martyred," spokesman Zemarai Bashary said.

He blamed the attack on the "enemies of Afghanistan" -- a term Afghan officials use to refer to Taliban militants and other extremists or criminals behind a wave of violence.

A body handling provincial governments also said the blast was caused by a roadside mine.

"It was a deliberate attack," said Abdul Malik Sidiquee, deputy head of directorate of local governments. "It was the work of the enemies of the country."

The Taliban were in government between 1996 and 2001, when they were ousted in a U.S.-led invasion launched when they did not hand over their al-Qaeda allies after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

They are waging a bloody insurgency that targets Afghan officials and international troops.