Seven people, including two top police commanders and three German troops, were killed Saturday in a suicide blast in the northern Afghan province of Takhar, dpa cited officials as saying. General Mohammed Daud Daud, the police commander for Afghanistan's northern region, and Shah Jahan Noori, provincial police chief of Takhar, were among the dead, said Faiz Mohammad Tawhidi, spokesman for the provincial governor. Others confirmed the death. "Yes the commander (Daud) was martyred in the blast," Ahmad Hamid, Daud's personal secretary told the German Press Agency dpa. "Three Germans, who were part of delegation that attended the security meeting, were killed," Tawhidi told the German Press Agency dpa. Tawhidi said that Governor Abdul Jabar Taqwa was among nine injured, while another official said that the top German military commander for northern Afghanistan, General Markus Kneip, had at least suffered injuries in the blast. A NATO military source confirmed that Kneip, the top NATO commander for the northern region was at the meeting, but said that Kneip survived the attack. The suicide bomber detonated his explosives in Taleqan, the provincial capital, as the officials walked out of the governor's office after a security meeting, said Zalmai Wessa, commander for Afghan national army forces in the northern region, who was also at the meeting.
