An Afghan police officer prays in the Arghandab valley in Kandahar province in February, 2010.Baz Ratner
The rumours had been circulating for weeks: Taliban insurgents were planning to attack the sprawling United Nations compound in Shar-i-nau, a relatively quiet, relatively wealthy neighbourhood in Kandahar city.
On Sunday morning, residents awoke to discover their streets scattered with "night letters." The warnings, written on plain white paper, urged local residents to take cover and foreigners to flee.
UN workers and Afghan residents feared they would become the latest victims of Taliban violence, which is gaining momentum in the runup to a massive NATO military operation that is considered the make or break battle of an eight-year war.
So on Sunday afternoon, everyone in Shar-i-nau did as they were told. Some UN foreign staff sought overnight shelter at Camp Nathan Smith, the provincial reconstruction team's inner-city headquarters, before being evacuated to Kabul the next day. Two hundred Afghan staff working for the organization in Kandahar were ordered to stay home. Terrified local residents cowered in their houses, bracing for what might happen next.
The explosions struck within a minute of each other, killing two people around 7:30 a.m. Monday.
The UN compound was untouched. Instead, militants targeted Fazal Ahmad Sherzad, the province's deputy police chief, with two remote-controlled bombs, one buried in the road, the other on the back of a parked motorcycle, which detonated as his convoy drove past.
Chief Sherzad survived unscathed. Two bystanders were killed. Speaking to reporters later, the police officer acknowledged that the violence was not random: "I was the target. I take this road at this time every day going to work and back home."
Already tense, life at present in Kandahar city is punctuated by almost daily acts of violence. The city's war-weary residents speak of fresh fear.
"Every day I go to work I am scared. I am afraid of every person, every vehicle. I do not leave my home unless I have work," said Naimitullah, a 49-year-old construction worker who, like most Afghans, goes by only one name.
Since April 12, at least 20 civilians have been killed in Kandahar city, ranging from prominent politicians such as Kandahar's deputy mayor, Azizullah Yarmal, who was shot in the back of the head while he attended evening prayers at a mosque, to children not yet old enough to attend school, randomly killed in bomb blasts.
There is broad consensus among residents that the violence is bound to get worse before security gets better. There are even greater doubts that it ever will.
"This is the worst situation I have seen in my life," said Aliya, a 50-year-old woman who has lived in Kandahar city since she was born.
The violence has infected the most routine aspects of daily life. Every summer, for instance, her family has slept outside, seeking respite from the unforgiving heat. This summer they are staying indoors.
"We are afraid of bullets and explosions," she explained. Her 10 children - five of them school-age - have received careful instruction on how to avoid getting killed: "I tell them to run if they see a foreign soldier, a tank or a Taliban fighter," she explained.
"They are not allowed to walk near banks, government buildings, foreign companies, or foreign aid compounds," she added.
In recent weeks, aid workers and contractors for U.S. development projects have been targeted.
The decision by the United Nations to partially withdraw its staff from Kandahar came just a few hours after Monday's attacks.
"We're re-evaluating the security situation and have pulled some of our staff to Kabul," said Susan Manuel, director of communications for the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan.
The decision was based on a "combination of information and action," she said. Ms. Manuel described the new measures as temporary, saying staff would resume their posts when the situation improves.
Provincial Governor Tooryalai Wesa has expressed confidence that the surge of tens of thousands of American troops this summer will stabilize the situation.
"Things will improve this summer," he predicted.
Mohammad Hashim, a 32-year-old agriculture student at Kandahar University, disagrees: "There are many things happening in Kandahar. Assassinations, shootings, bombings. I am scared," he said.
Asked whom he blamed for the violence - the Afghan government, its security forces, the Taliban or foreign soldiers, he paused before replying.
"Everyone."