Governor among 20 killed in mosque blast, mosque, gov spox

Описание: (8 Oct 2010) SHOTLIST
1. Tracking shot of debris and damage inside mosque after blast
2. Tracking shot of covered body of blast victim on floor amid debris
3. Various of damage inside mosque
4. SOUNDBITE (Dari) Faiz Mohammad Tawhedi, Takhar provincial governor spokesman:
"When everyone was busy praying, an explosive which was already placed in the mosque exploded. Unfortunately 11 people were martyred, including the Kunduz provincial governor Engineer Omar, while 20 other people who were praying were wounded."
5. Injured brought to hospital in police vehicle
6. Various of injured people being carried into hospital on stretchers
7. Various of injured people on hospital beds receiving treatment
8. Police vehicle arriving at hospital, doors open, men shouting, it pulls away, stops again
STORYLINE:
A provincial governor and at least 19 other people were killed by a massive bomb blast inside a packed mosque during Friday prayers in northern Afghanistan on Friday.
Thirty-five people were wounded in the explosion while praying at the Shirkat mosque in Takhar province, said Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary.
General Shah Jahan Noori, the provincial police chief, said the governor of neighbouring Kunduz province, Mohammad Omar, was killed along with 19 other people.
The bomb was meant to kill Omar, who regularly attends Friday prayers at the mosque, Takhar Governor Abdul Jabar Taqwa said.
A survivor of the blast said he believed a suicide attacker sitting next to the governor detonated explosives.
Body parts were scattered around the mosque, its walls scarred by shrapnel.
Wounded people wrapped in bloodstained blankets were rushed to the hospital.
No group claimed responsibility, but Omar has been targeted in the past.
One of Afghanistan's 34 provincial governors, he survived at least three previous assassination attempts, including ambushes and roadside bombs.
A bombing along a main highway in May 2009 slightly wounded him.
In an Afghan television interview last week, Omar said if security wasn't increased in Kunduz province, insurgents would not only be a threat to northern Afghanistan, but to neighbouring nations as well.
Kunduz was being used by Afghan militants as well as foreign fighters to stage attacks throughout the region, he said.
Afghan officials are prime targets for the Taliban and other militant groups that have instituted an assassination campaign against people who work with the Afghan government or NATO forces.

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