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| Afghanistan |
| Kandahar governor unhurt after roadside bombing |
| 2009-11-27 |
| Tooryali Wesa, a University of British Columbia agriculture professor who returned to Afghanistan last fall to serve as governor of Kandahar survived a roadside bombing on Friday in Kandahar City. Wesa, formerly of Coquitlam, B.C., was en route to a mosque for Friday prayers in the provincial capital to celebrate the first day of the holy Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha when insurgents triggered a remote-controlled homemade bomb as his three-vehicle entourage drove past. "He is fine. He is OK, but he is a little rattled," Ahsan Karzi, who serves as WesaÂ’s executive assistant, told Canwest News Service. "The cars were damaged a little and he was shaken up but nothing will deter him from his duties. He is moving forward." The assassination attempt was the second on WesaÂ’s life this year. Insurgents also attacked the governorÂ’s palace in April, but only succeeded in breaching the outer security cordon of his heavily defended residence before being killed. "It is really disheartening that this happened today. This is supposed to be our Christmas," said Karzi, who decided to attend prayers later in the day, so was not in the governorÂ’s vehicle when it was attacked. Wesa grew up in Kandahar, where he was a childhood friend of President Hamid Karzai. The soft-spoken 58-year-old academic emigrated to Canada nearly 20 years ago, but returned to his home town at the invitation of the president and with the Canadian governmentÂ’s backing. Since then he has worked closely with Canadian troops and with employees of several Canadian ministries who are charged with helping with economic development and reconstruction. |
| Posted by:ryuge |