Suicide bomber kills Kandahar mayor
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CTV News.ca Staff Wed. Jul. 27 2011 8:31 AM ET
The mayor of Kandahar was assassinated Wednesday in an attack that comes less than one month after Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother was murdered.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for both attacks, which come amid a wave of violence as NATO's military operations in Afghanistan begin to wind down.
Ghulam Haider Hamidi was killed Wednesday at city hall when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb that was hidden in his turban.
The mayor has family in Toronto and spent 30 years living in Arlington, Va., where he worked as an accountant.
In 2007 Karzai appointed Hamidi as mayor of Kandahar, and he returned to his homeland after 30 years in exile.
The fiery official had recently claimed he was waging "jihad" against corruption in the capital of the violent province, and had dismissed a number of municipal officials who were working as engineers without the proper credentials.
He also cracked down on bribery, firing officials who were known to take bribes, and ordered the the destruction of shops that he said were set up too close to the city's famous blue mosque.
Murray Brewster, of The Canadian Press, said Hamidi was equally willing to challenge local powerbrokers as he was to criticize the actions of foreign governments working in Afghanistan. As a result, he was very popular among the residents of the city and had a reputation as a free-thinking, pupulist mayor.
"He struck me as one of the leading lights in Kandahar," Brewster told CTV's Canada AM.
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CTV News.ca Staff Wed. Jul. 27 2011 8:31 AM ET
The mayor of Kandahar was assassinated Wednesday in an attack that comes less than one month after Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother was murdered.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for both attacks, which come amid a wave of violence as NATO's military operations in Afghanistan begin to wind down.
Ghulam Haider Hamidi was killed Wednesday at city hall when a suicide bomber detonated a bomb that was hidden in his turban.
The mayor has family in Toronto and spent 30 years living in Arlington, Va., where he worked as an accountant.
In 2007 Karzai appointed Hamidi as mayor of Kandahar, and he returned to his homeland after 30 years in exile.
The fiery official had recently claimed he was waging "jihad" against corruption in the capital of the violent province, and had dismissed a number of municipal officials who were working as engineers without the proper credentials.
He also cracked down on bribery, firing officials who were known to take bribes, and ordered the the destruction of shops that he said were set up too close to the city's famous blue mosque.
Murray Brewster, of The Canadian Press, said Hamidi was equally willing to challenge local powerbrokers as he was to criticize the actions of foreign governments working in Afghanistan. As a result, he was very popular among the residents of the city and had a reputation as a free-thinking, pupulist mayor.
"He struck me as one of the leading lights in Kandahar," Brewster told CTV's Canada AM.
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