Al-Qaida killing thwarted in Afghanistan

Security forces Monday thwarted a suspected al-Qaida assassination attempt on a prominent provincial governor in northern Afghanistan, police said. An alleged al-Qaida member carrying a passport from the African country of Mali entered the home of Atta Mohammed, the governor of northern Balkh province, with explosives hidden under his clothes before being stopped by the official's bodyguards, said police spokesman Sher Jan Durani. "He was going to blow himself up when he was with the governor," he said.