Afghan election candidate killed in attack

[norml]

Afghan election candidate killed in attack
Sun Aug 28, 2005 3:02 PM BST


KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban fighters on Saturday shot dead a parliamentary candidate amid a spate of violence that has raised security fears ahead of Afghanistan's elections.

The killing of Haji Atiqullah, who intended to stand in the September 18 provincial and parliamentary elections as a candidate for a new lower house of parliament, was accompanied by a rocket-propelled grenade fired at a German peacekeeping base and the wounding of three U.S. soldiers in an attack near Kabul.

"The Taliban killed him," Jan Mohammad Khan, governor of the troubled southern province of Uruzgan said on Sunday, adding that Atiqullah's driver and bodyguard were wounded.

A spokesmen for the Taliban, who have been fighting an insurgency since they were driven from power in a U.S.-led invasion in 2001, said Taliban fighters had killed Atiqullah.

President Hamid Karzai said the tide of violence would not deter the Afghan people from holding the elections and that he was confident the elections would go smoothly.


snip


http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2005-08-28T140220Z_01_KNE839254_RTRUKOC_0_UK-AFGHAN-VIOLENCE.xml

[cosmik debris]

1. Freedom is on the run

uh? march???

[enigma000]

2. Afghan Polling Places Will Not Be Targets, Taliban Official Says

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/23/international/asia/23afghan.html

ABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 22 - Taliban fighters will not attack polling places during parliamentary elections next month, to avoid killing civilians, but will continue to attack American and Afghan government forces, a spokesman for the group said Monday.

"We have decided not to target polling stations in civilian areas," the spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi, was reported as saying by Reuters. "U.S. and Afghan forces are setting up polling stations in crowded areas, which if attacked will cause big losses." He was reported to have called several news agencies.

So they plan to attack candidates and, I imagine, election officials but not polling booths. Well, that's awfully good of them. . . . .