Bomb kills five in Herat street

HERAT, Afghanistan — A bomb exploded on a bustling street of this western city yesterday, killing five persons, injuring 29 and deepening concern over security two days after Afghanistan set a new date for its first free elections.

Afghan leader Hamid Karzai blamed enemies of democracy for the blast, which occurred as U.N. and government officials watched a disarmament parade for militia soldiers across town.

Local police said they had arrested one suspect, but it was not clear who was behind the latest attempt to mar preparations for presidential elections, which authorities on Friday pushed back from September to Oct. 9.

Police Chief Ziauddin Mahmoudi said the time bomb was hidden in a pile of garbage near a building with shops on the ground floor and a police station upstairs.

Officials said the five dead included a 12-year-old boy. One police officer was among the 29 injured.

Dozens of wounded were brought to a city hospital. Four children with bandaged head wounds lay in one ward, two of them wearing oxygen masks.

Six persons were in critical condition, said Mohammed Omar Sameem, the head of public health.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Chief Mahmoudi said his officers had detained a man who lived near the scene and found 15 pistols plus ammunition in a search of his home. The suspect, who wasn’t identified, denied any involvement in the bombing, Chief Mahmoudi said.

Mr. Karzai blamed the attack on “enemies who are desperately trying to derail Afghanistan from the path of reconstruction, peace and democracy.”

Violence this year has killed nearly 600 people, including six election workers who died in recent shootings and bombings.

Herat had been spared such attacks, which officials routinely blame on Taliban-led insurgents active mainly in the south and east of Afghanistan.

But the province was shaken in March by a fierce burst of factional fighting that killed 16 persons, including a Cabinet minister and a son of Gov. Ismail Khan, and prompted Mr. Karzai to deploy government troops here.

The United Nations and Mr. Karzai have cited repeated clashes among warlord militias across the north and west as proof of the need for disarmament.

The world body irritated Mr. Khan, an anti-Soviet resistance hero who helped U.S. forces drive out the Taliban in 2001, by accusing him of stalling the disarmament process. Mr. Khan warned that demobilizing his men could leave a security vacuum.

Still, his aides said he supported yesterday’s ceremony at a military base on the edge of Herat that marked the start of a drive to dismantle his private army.

Afghanistan’s electoral commission cited slow progress in disarmament in its decision Friday to postpone parliamentary elections, originally to be held at the same time as the presidential vote, but now set for April.

The United Nations is concerned that armed factions will use their guns and wealth to fill parliament with their supporters.