Suicide Blast Kills Afghan Official, Five Others

The deputy governor of Helmand province and five others were killed by a suicide bomber during afternoon prayers in a mosque in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah, Afghan officials said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

The deputy, Hajji Pir Mohammad, was dead on arrival at a Lashkar Gah hospital, the duty doctor there said, and at least 21 injured people, including a five-year-old boy, were treated.

The explosion took place just after 1 p.m. in a mosque near the governor’s office, the provincial police chief, Muhammad Hussain Andiwal said. He confirmed that six people, including the deputy governor, were killed as they were praying.

Two independent reports from Afghanistan's former Nato commander warned today that the country risks becoming a "failed state" due to the continuing violence and economic instability.

A third report from Oxfam, in the form of an open letter to the prime minister, Gordon Brown, warns the situation in Afghanistan could lead to a humanitarian disaster.

The warnings coincided with separate bomb attacks in Helmand province and Kandahar, which killed a total of seven people.