A bomb killed a candidate in Afghanistanâs upcoming parliamentary elections as eight policemen, two militants and a civilian were killed in a bloody countdown to the polls, officials said yesterday. Parliamentary candidate Habibullah Khan from the Garmser district of Helmand province, 600 kilometers south of Kabul, was severely wounded by a bomb placed at the door of his house early yesterday, district police chief Deljan said. He later died in hospital. âThis was a mine planted for him in front of his gate by the enemies of peace and stability,â he added, without blaming the attack on any group. Similar attacks in the past have been blamed on the ousted Taleban regime.In Dishu district also in Helmand province, police chief Haji Amanullah was killed by the Taleban along with his son and three bodyguards in an ambush which left two militants dead. âIn the exchange of fire all five including the police chief were killed and two Taleban bodies were also left in the area,â Haji Mohammed Wali, the spokesman for the Helmand governor, told AFP.
In the southern province of Zabul four Afghan policemen were killed in two separate attacks. Three officers guarding a convoy transporting goods to US bases were killed Saturday when it came under fire from Taleban insurgents. The convoy was on its way from the provincial capital Qalat to US bases in Shinkay district 350 kilometers south of Kabul, said Shinkayâs District Governor Rozi Khan. After the exchange of fire the convoy turned back to Qalat. Zabul, which shares a long mountainous border with Pakistan, is one of the provinces worst hit by the insurgency. A purported Taleban spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi, claimed responsibility for the convoy attack in a telephone call from an undisclosed location.
Another policeman was killed in the neighboring Shah Joy district of Zabul in a Taleban attack on the main highway linking the southern city of Kandahar with Kabul. âOne policeman was killed and two were wounded in a one-hour exchange of fire after the Taleban attacked a Kabul-Kandahar highway checkpoint,â Ghulam Nabi Mullah Khail, the highway police commander, told AFP. The Taleban also claimed responsibility for that attack.