<p>A bomb targeted a senior Shia Muslim cleric in the west of Kabul on Tuesday, police said, shortly before the international military coalition marked its final handover of security to national forces.</p>.<p>At least three civilians were killed and 21 wounded in the blast, which is bound to fuel concern over how the 352,000-strong Afghan security forces will tackle an intensifying insurgency after most foreign combat troops leave the country by the end of 2014.</p>.<p>The explosion happened as Mohammad Mohaqiq, a prominent Hazara politician and the country's senior Shia cleric, passed by the area in a convoy, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said.</p>.<p>Mohaqiq is also a senior member of the body set up by President Hamid Karzai in 2010 to help broker a peace pact with the Taliban, the High Peace Council.</p>.<p>Mohaqiq escaped unscathed, though several of his bodyguards were wounded, a police spokesman said.</p>.<p>The attack came a week after two large-scale attacks in Kabul claimed by the Taliban, with militants attacking the capital's airport on 10 June, and a suicide bomber killing at least 17 people outside the supreme court the next day.</p>.<p>The explosion occurred 90 minutes before hundreds of local and international officials watched a ceremony on the outskirts of the capital to mark the security handover of the final tranche of provinces and districts to Afghan control.</p>.<p>Those areas, in the country's southeast and east, are some of the Afghanistan's most unstable and include Helmand, Kandahar, Khost, Paktia and Kunar.</p>.<p>Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen were expected to attend the event.</p>
<p>A bomb targeted a senior Shia Muslim cleric in the west of Kabul on Tuesday, police said, shortly before the international military coalition marked its final handover of security to national forces.</p>.<p>At least three civilians were killed and 21 wounded in the blast, which is bound to fuel concern over how the 352,000-strong Afghan security forces will tackle an intensifying insurgency after most foreign combat troops leave the country by the end of 2014.</p>.<p>The explosion happened as Mohammad Mohaqiq, a prominent Hazara politician and the country's senior Shia cleric, passed by the area in a convoy, interior ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said.</p>.<p>Mohaqiq is also a senior member of the body set up by President Hamid Karzai in 2010 to help broker a peace pact with the Taliban, the High Peace Council.</p>.<p>Mohaqiq escaped unscathed, though several of his bodyguards were wounded, a police spokesman said.</p>.<p>The attack came a week after two large-scale attacks in Kabul claimed by the Taliban, with militants attacking the capital's airport on 10 June, and a suicide bomber killing at least 17 people outside the supreme court the next day.</p>.<p>The explosion occurred 90 minutes before hundreds of local and international officials watched a ceremony on the outskirts of the capital to mark the security handover of the final tranche of provinces and districts to Afghan control.</p>.<p>Those areas, in the country's southeast and east, are some of the Afghanistan's most unstable and include Helmand, Kandahar, Khost, Paktia and Kunar.</p>.<p>Afghan President Hamid Karzai and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen were expected to attend the event.</p>
