From correspondents in Kabul, Afghanistan, 03:31 PM IST

Taliban militants Saturday claimed responsibility for killing the governor of Afghanistan's southern province of Logar province and his three bodyguards hours after a remote-controlled bomb hit his convoy on the outskirt of the capital.

Zabihullah Mujahed, purported Taliban spokesman, told Xinhua on the phone from an unknown location that the outfit planted the bomb on the way governor Abdullah Wardak's car was to pass by.

Wardak was in the capital on an official visit.

Earlier, provincial police chief Mustafa Mohsini said Wardak was coming out from his residence in Paghman, 20 km west of Kabul, when a remote-controlled bomb struck his car, killing him and his three bodyguards.

Logar, 60 km south of Kabul, has been the scene of heightened militant activities for the past one year as the insurgents shot dead three foreign aid workers in the province in August.

Spiraling insurgency and Taliban-linked violence have left around 4,000 people dead, mostly insurgents, till date this year.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)