KABUL – A suicide attacker on foot blew up near a vehicle as it entered thehead office of Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) onMonday, wounding at least six people, officials said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which comesas thousands of ballot boxes from around the war-torn country are deliveredto the IEC’s heavily fortified compound in the Afghan capital followingchaotic and violent legislative elections.
Four IEC workers and two police officers were wounded when the militantblew up near a vehicle entering the base at 8:00 am (0330 GMT).
The attacker was “identified and gunned down by police before reaching histarget”, Kabul police spokesman Basir Mujahid told reporters.
“The wounded were taken to hospital and are in a stable condition.”
Millions of Afghans risked their lives to vote in the long-delayedelections that were held over two weekends.
The ballot, which the Taliban had vowed to attack, was marred by lengthydelays at polling centres, allegations of fraud, and deadly violence, withhundreds killed or wounded in scores of attacks.
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IEC figures suggest around half of the nearly nine million peopleregistered to vote actually cast a ballot.
Many suspect a significant number of those on the voter roll were based onfake identification documents that fraudsters planned to use to stuffballot boxes.
The parliamentary election, which was more than three years late and thethird since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, is seen as a dry run for nextyear’s presidential vote.
It is also considered an important milestone ahead of a UN meeting inGeneva next month where Afghanistan is under pressure to show progress on”democratic processes”. – APP/AFP
