KABUL - Taleban remnants claimed responsibility for a bomb that killed two Afghan United Nations election workers yesterday in the first direct attack on efforts to prepare for the country’s forthcoming elections.
The device, which exploded inside a minibus carrying workers to voter registration sites in eastern Nangarhar province, also left 13 women and two children killed or injured, the United Nations said in a statement. The vehicle had left its office in the Nangarhar provincial capital Jalalabad and was on its way to Shinwar district when the blast occurred, officials said. "Preliminary information is that explosives were placed in the minibus," UN special representative in Afghanistan Jean Arnault said.
| "Holmes, how do you do it?" |
"Two women were killed. Three other women are in critical condition as well as a boy child accompanying his mother." Earlier, a UN spokesman said three people had died.
| Brave, brave Taleban beating up on the women-folk and the kidlings again. |
A man claiming to represent the Taleban, Abdul Latif Hakimi, told AFP via satellite phone that the bomb had been fixed to the underside of the bus. "We claim responsibility for the bomb blast in a minibus carrying female electoral commission workers," he said. "We will try our best to sabotage the election process and this was a sign of Taleban’s attempt to sabotage elections."
| Yo, Marines, Abdul just signed his death warrant. Can you guys take care of this? Thanks in advance. |
Deputy Director of the Public Health Hospital at Jalalabad, Dr Baz Mohammad Sherzad, said two dead bodies and 11 injured had been taken to the hospital. Five of these wounded who were in a critical condition had been taken to Kabul, he said. As per the UN statement and local officials, the driver of the minibus left the vehicle just before the explosion. He was caught shortly after the blast and taken in by police. |