Provincial governor escapes assassination attempt

The governor of the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar escaped unhurt Monday when an attacker opened fire on his convoy, a government spokesman said. Gul Agha Sherzai was en route to the provincial capital Jalalabad when an assailant equipped with a rifle and hand grenades attacked his convoy, the governor's spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said.
"The governor and his team were not harmed in the firing," he said, adding that security forces captured the attacker. Moments earlier, a second attacker wearing a suicide-vest entered a hotel where provincial authorities including the deputy provincial governor were in a meeting, he said. "The police guarding the hall killed the bomber before he could detonate his explosives," Abdulzai said.