Mother dies trying to stop bombing

KABUL, Afghanistan – A mother who tried to stop her son from carrying out a suicide bomb attack triggered an explosion in the family’s home in southern Afghanistan that killed the would-be bomber, his mother and three siblings, police said Monday.

The would-be bomber had been studying at a madrassa, or religious school, in Pakistan. He returned to his home in Uruzgan province over the weekend and announced that he planned to carry out a suicide attack, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemeri Bashary said.

Surviving family members told police that the suicide vest exploded during a struggle between the mother and her son, said Juma Gul Himat, Uruzgan’s police chief. The man’s brother and two sisters were also killed.

Family members said the would-be bomber gave his family $3,600 before telling them he intended to carry out the attack, Himat said.

In a second accidental explosion, another would-be bomber killed himself Friday in Paktika province when he tried to take off the bomb vest he was wearing and it exploded, Bashary said. The man told authorities he had been instructed by his handlers in Pakistan to launch a suicide attack but changed his mind when he saw people praying in a mosque.

The U.S. military, meanwhile, said it had looked into allegations that soldiers had desecrated the Quran during a raid on a home in the eastern province of Kunar and found no evidence of wrongdoing.