AN AFGHAN PROVINCIAL GOVERNOR SAID A BLAST AT HIS OFFICE ON WEDNESDAY WAS AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT WHILE IN A SEPARATE INCIDENT, GUNMEN ON A MOTORCYCLE SHOT DEAD A JUDGE. THE LEVEL OF VIOLENCE HAS RISEN SHARPLY IN AFGHANISTAN IN RECENT MONTHS WITH THE TALIBAN STEPPING UP THEIR INSURGENCY AS THOUSANDS MORE NATO PEACEKEEPERS ARE ARRIVING. A BOMB PLANTED IN A POLICE VEHICLE EXPLODED INSIDE THE COMPOUND OF THE GOVERNOR OF THE EASTERN PROVINCE OF NANGARHAR. IT CAUSED NO CASUALTIES BUT SMASHED OFFICE WINDOWS AND DAMAGED THE CAR THE GOVERNOR HAD JUST ARRIVED IN. "IT WAS AN ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ... THEIR PLAN WAS TO KILL ME," THE GOVERNOR, GUL AGHA SHERZAI, TOLD A NEWS CONFERENCE IN THE PROVINCIAL CAPITAL, JALALABAD. HE SAID THOSE RESPONSIBLE WERE TERRORISTS AND THREE SUSPECTS HAD BEEN ARRESTED. UNIDENTIFIED GUNMEN ON A MOTORCYCLE SHOT DEAD THE SECOND MOST SENIOR JUDGE IN THE WESTERN PROVINCE OF FARAH. THE JUDGE, SHAIKH AHMAD, WAS SHOT AND KILLED ON TUESDAY EVENING AS HE WAS WALKING HOME FROM A MOSQUE, SAID THE GOVERNOR OF FARAH, EZATULLAH WASFI. IT WAS NOT IMMEDIATELY CLEAR WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE, ACCORDING TO A REPORT OF REUTERS.
