{"id":3491,"date":"2014-03-30T06:55:10","date_gmt":"2014-03-30T06:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/wp3\/?p=3491"},"modified":"2014-03-30T06:55:10","modified_gmt":"2014-03-30T06:55:10","slug":"taliban-attack-afghan-election-commission-headquarters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sunnionline.us\/english\/2014\/03\/30\/3491\/","title":{"rendered":"Taliban attack Afghan election commission headquarters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"images\/stories\/news3\/taliban-attack.jpg\" border=\"0\" style=\"float: right; margin: 5px;\" \/>The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the second launched against an IEC office in the capital this week as they seek to derail the April 5 election it calls a Western-backed &#8220;sham&#8221;.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>  <!--more-->  <\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Taliban rebels attacked the Independent Election Commission headquarters in the Afghan capital of Kabul on Saturday, staff and police said, the latest in a spate of attacks ahead of next week&#8217;s presidential election.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8220;Four suicide bombers armed with light and heavy weapons have entered a building near the IEC headquarters and are shooting towards the IEC compound and at passers by,&#8221; Mohammad Zahir, the Kabul police chief, told reporters near the site of the attack.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The IEC compound is also close to offices used by the United Nations Office Complex in Afghanistan (UNOCA) and other international organisations.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">&#8220;I am here &#8230; the attack is going on around the IEC compound,&#8221; IEC spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor told Reuters by telephone from a safe room inside the building.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Staff heard an initial explosion at around midday, and that was then followed by gunfire.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the second launched against an IEC office in the capital this week as they seek to derail the April 5 election it calls a Western-backed &#8220;sham&#8221;.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">IEC spokesman Noor said that IEC personnel were safe and that Afghan security forces were in control of their building.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">U.N. staff at the complex near the IEC were instructed to take refuge in saferooms until further notice.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The attack was the second to strike Kabul in less than 24 hours, after Taliban fighters targeted a guesthouse used by a U.S.-based aid group.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">An Afghan child was killed by the initial blast and Afghan security forces battled with the fighters for hours before clearing the compound building. The aid workers were not hurt.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>PRE-ELECTION VIOLENCE<\/strong><\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">With a week to go before Afghanistan&#8217;s presidential election, escalating violence across the country risks undermining the credibility of a vote meant to mark the first democratic transfer of power in Afghan history.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Violence has escalated in Afghanistan in recent weeks with almost daily explosions and gunfights around the country.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Taliban suicide bombers and gunmen attacked an election commission office in Kabul on Tuesday, and last week, nine people including an AFP journalist and an election observer, were killed in an attack on a highly fortified hotel in the capital.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Afghanistan is holding an election to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai, who is constitutionally barred from running for another term in office.<\/span><br \/><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It will be seen as a major test by foreign donors who are hesitant about bankrolling the government after the bulk of NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan withdraw later this year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Source:<\/span> <em><strong>World Bulletin<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, the second launched against an IEC office in the capital this week as they seek to derail the April 5 election it calls a Western-backed &#8220;sham&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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