The U.N. Security Council has condemned several recent attacks in Afghanistan ahead of Saturday's parliamentary elections. U.S. News & World Report More The Associated Press.
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (AP) — The Latest on the situation in Afghanistan ahead of the country's parliamentary election on Saturday (all times local): 7 a.m. The U.N. Security Council has condemned several recent attacks in Afghanistan ahead of Saturday's parliamentary elections. On Thursday, an elite guard attacked a delegation leaving a high-level meeting on security plans for the elections. The gunman killed the powerful Kandahar police chief and at least one other senior Afghan official but missed the top U.S. commander in the country, Gen. Scott Miller. The Taliban claimed the attack and said Miller was the target.
The Security Council's statement issued late Thursday from U.N. headquarters said the members underscored the importance of security for elections and that violence or threats intended to disrupt the elections were unacceptable. ___ 6:30 p.m. Afghan officials say three top Kandahar province officials have been killed by their own guards in an attack at a security meeting that also wounded three Americans. A Taliban spokesman who claimed responsibility for the attack tells The Associated Press that U.S. Gen. Scott Miller, commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, was the target. NATO officials say Miller escaped unharmed. Kandahar's deputy provincial governor Agha Lala Dastageri said powerful provincial police chief Abdul Razik and the province's intelligence chief Abdul Mohmin died immediately in the attack and provincial governor Zalmay Wesa died of his injuries at a hospital. Three Americans — a service member and two civilian workers — were wounded in the shooting, said U.S. Col. Knut Peters, a spokesman for NATO troops in Afghanistan. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi took responsibility for the attack. He too said all three officials were killed.The security meeting inside the sprawling provincial governor's residence was being held ahead of Saturday's parliamentary elections. ___ 5 p.m. An Afghan TV station says the Kandahar police chief was killed when members of the provincial governor's elite guards turned their guns on their own colleagues and American troops who were present at a high-level security meeting in province. Two American troops were also wounded in the shooting. Gen. Scott Miller, the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, who was present at Thursday's meeting, was unhurt in the incident. Tolo TV says the police chef Abdul Raziq was killed while the Kandahar governor and another official were wounded. U.S. Col. Knut Peters, a spokesman for the NATO troops in Afghanistan, says two Americans troops who were wounded have been medically evacuated. Peters says initial reports indicate the original attacker is dead. He had no further information. ___ 11 a.m. A Taliban suicide bomber has targeted a NATO convoy near the Afghan capital, killing two cvilians and injuring five Czech troops. Afghan officials and the Czech military say the attack took place late Wednesday in the district of Bagram in Parwan province. Wahida Shakar, spokeswoman for the provincial governor, says three Afghan civilians were also wounded. Bagram is about 40 kilometers (24 miles) from Kabul and is also the home of a sprawling U.S. military base The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack. Of the five Czech soldiers, one was seriously injured when their vehicle overturned following the explosion. The soldier underwent surgery and the Czech military said he was not in life-threatening condition.