Afghan Education Minister escapes assassination

Afghan Higher Education Minister Obaidullah Obaid survived an assassination attempt on Sunday after a bomb targeted his motorcade in northern Afghanistan. The minister was travelling from Baghlan to Kunduz province when one of the cars in his convoy hit a roadside bomb, Munshi Majid, the provincial governor of Baghlan who was in the same motorcade said. The attack injured two of the bodyguards, provincial officials said. "The minister is safe," Munshi said. "Two policemen were wounded in the bomb attack," he said, adding that the bomb exploded on a highway outside Baghlan city. It is the second assault on a high-profile Afghan politician in two days. On Saturday, a suicide bomber blew himself up at a wedding reception in Samangan province, also in the north, killing a top Afghan official and 22 others. Also on Friday, a car bomb killed a regional head of women's affairs in the east of the country.