Afghans voting in Kandahar elections delayed by violence

Afghan residents in the southern province of Kandahar are casting their ballots in parliamentary elections that were postponed for a week after a Taliban attack killed two top government officials, including a powerful provincial police chief.

Independent Election Commission (IEC) deputy spokesman Aziz Ibrahimi said voting started at 7 a.m. local time (0230 GMT) throughout the southern province on Saturday, with 111 candidates vying for 11 seats in Afghanistan’s 249-seat chamber.

More than 522,000 people have registered to vote at the 173 polling stations across Kandahar, according to the IEC.

Figures by the electoral body show around four million people voted in last weekend's parliamentary elections that were held in 32 out of 34 provinces after months of chaotic preparations.

Provincial authorities said major roads throughout Kandahar were closed nearly 24 hours before polls opened to stop suspicious vehicles and individuals from entering the southern province.

Election Commission officials said 4,500 observers will monitor the election process in Kandahar and 6,000 staff have been hired for the election process.

Elections in Kandahar were postponed after the October 18 killing of General Abdul Raziq, who was credited with repelling successive Taliban attempts to gain a foothold in the province.

Raziq was among three people killed in an insider attack on a high-level security meeting in Kandahar city that was attended by General Scott Miller, the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan.

Miller escaped unharmed, but a US general was one of two Americans wounded in the attack.

On Saturday, at least six people were killed and dozens injured in a bomb attack outside a military compound in Afghanistan’s central Wardak Province, south of the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Local reports said the car bomb detonated in the provincial capital of Maidan Shahr as two busloads of police officers and mechanics arrived at the gate to begin their daily work.

Provincial police spokesman Hekmatullah Durrani said six bodies and 31 wounded had been taken to hospitals in the city.

The Taliban claimed responsibility, with spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid saying “tens of Afghan police and soldiers were killed” in the bombing.

SS