'Enemy' bomb kills Afghan governor

An Afghan governor was killed on Saturday when a bomb blew up his car near the capital Kabul, the interior ministry said, blaming the attack on the "enemies of Afghanistan".

It was not immediately clear if Abdullah Wardak, governor of the province of Logar near Kabul, was killed in a suicide attack or a roadside bombing.

The Logar police chief, Ghulam Mustafa, said he 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 interior ministry 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.

Wardak, a long opponent of the Taliban, was the first provincial governor to be killed since the September 2006 assassination of the governor of eastern Paktia province, Hakim Taniwal.

Taniwal was killed in a suicide bombing that was claimed by the Taliban.

The hardliners were in government between 1996 and 2001, when they were ousted in a US-led invasion.

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