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5 Killed in Kabul as Taliban Target Election Offices 5 Killed in Kabul as Taliban Target Election Offices
(about 5 hours later)
KABUL, Afghanistan — With security concerns already mounting before the Afghan presidential vote, a Taliban assault team turned election offices in eastern Kabul into a scene of carnage on Tuesday. After a firefight that stretched for more than three hours and trapped dozens of people in the compound, five victims lay dead and the Afghan capital had again been proven vulnerable. KABUL, Afghanistan — With security concerns already mounting before the Afghan presidential vote next week, a Taliban assault team on Tuesday turned election offices in eastern Kabul into a scene of carnage, in a new and brutal statement of their intent to derail the voting.
Two of the five attackers detonated their explosives belts at the gate of the compound, while three others rushed in armed with assault rifles, the police said. Even as the attack was unfolding, the Taliban claimed responsibility, reemphasizing their campaign to disrupt the April 5 election and punish those involved in them. Bombers’ body parts and victims’ blood covered the street and courtyard where five Taliban militants had blasted their way into the regional offices of the Independent Election Commission and waged a four-hour battle with Afghan security forces. Afterward, five victims lay dead and the Afghan capital had again been proved vulnerable.
The victims included two police officers, an election worker and a provincial council candidate, officials said. At least six other people were reported wounded. The front of the elections building was a bombed-out shell, with bullets pockmarking the entire facade and the doors and windows blown off their hinges. Election workers who survived the assault described hiding in empty rooms and the building’s basement as gunfire and explosions rocked the compound, which is just a stone’s throw from the home of a leading presidential candidate.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Sediq Seddiqi, said that the police had responded quickly, rescuing more than 70 people trapped in the compound before killing the remaining attackers. The compound is near the home of a leading presidential candidate, Ashraf Ghani, who was not home at the time, officials said. Two of the five attackers detonated explosive belts at the gate of the compound, while three others rushed in with assault rifles, the police said. Even as the attack was unfolding, the Taliban claimed responsibility, re-emphasizing its campaign to disrupt the April 5 election and punish those involved in it.
“If the police did not response in a timely manner, they could have massacred every one,” Mr. Seddiqi said. The victims included two police officers and a provincial council candidate, officials said. At least eight other people were reported wounded.
A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Sediq Seddiqi, said that the police had responded quickly, rescuing more than 70 people trapped inside the compound before killing the remaining attackers. The compound is beside the residence of a leading presidential candidate, Ashraf Ghani, who was not home at the time, officials said.
“If the police did not respond in a timely manner, they could have massacred every one,” Mr. Seddiqi said.
At the scene of the attack, it was hard to see how anyone survived.At the scene of the attack, it was hard to see how anyone survived.
Bombers’ body parts and victims’ blood covered the street and courtyard. The building appeared a bombed-out shell, with bullet holes pockmarking the entire facade and the doors and windows blown off hinges. The smell of gas and explosives filled the air, and the ground was covered in glass and granules of concrete torn from the building. As journalists entered the compound, the police were carting off the mangled body of a bomber in the bed of a truck.
The smell of gasoline and explosives filled the air, and the ground was covered in glass and bits of concrete torn from the building. A worker inside the offices of the Independent Election Commission when the attack happened said that heavy gunfire began immediately after the initial blasts. Some workers were stuck in the basement during the attack, while others rushed from the corridor and locked themselves in rooms.
An election worker who was inside the offices of the Independent Election Commission when the attack happened said that heavy gunfire began immediately after the initial blasts. Some workers got stuck in the basement, while others rushed from the corridor and locked themselves in rooms. “Everyone was shouting; a woman was on the ground bleeding from a gunshot,” said the election worker, Khalil Usmani. “It was crazy, bullets and smoke. No one knew who anyone was.”
“Everyone was shouting, a woman was on the ground bleeding from a gunshot,” said the election worker, Khalil Usmani. “It was crazy, bullets and smoke. No one knew who anyone was.” After months of relative calm, Kabul has again been the scene of troubling attacks in recent weeks, stirring unease among Afghan and international officials here and raising questions about security for an election seen as critical to the country’s stability after the Western military pullout by year’s end.
After months of relative calm in the capital, Kabul has again been the scene of troubling attacks in recent weeks, stirring up unease among Afghan and international officials here and raising questions about security for an election seen as critical to the country’s stability after the Western military pullout by year’s end. Officials hope that the Taliban’s campaign of violence will not be enough to intimidate voters from turning out for the high-stakes election. With three main contenders vying for a lead, observers also hope that the enhanced competition will bolster turnout compared with the 2009 election, when most Afghans assumed President Hamid Karzai would win and when widespread violence kept significant swaths of the population from voting.
Officials are hoping that the Taliban’s campaign of violence will not be enough to intimidate voters from turning out for the high-stakes election. With three main contenders vying for the presidency, observers are hoping the enhanced competition will also bolster turnout compared with the 2009 election, when most Afghans expected President Hamid Karzai to win and widespread violence kept significant sections of the population from voting. Over the past 30 years, Afghans have seen wave after wave of war shatter their country. Those who endure fall back on a particularly grim and powerful strain of resilience that has come to be seen here as central to the Afghan character. Having survived the Soviet occupation, then the brutal civil war, then years of Taliban terror attacks, some publicly shrug off the new round of political violence as unlikely to deter their push for self-determination.
Resilience and fear were both on display on Tuesday outside the devastated election offices and near Mr. Ghani’s home. Among them was Nasir Ahmed, who on Tuesday stood near the road to the election compound. “We will still go and participate in the election,” he said. “These attacks can’t stop us from casting our votes.”
Farid, 22, said the attacks had made him rethink his decision to vote. The general insecurity and a fear that he might wind up a victim of a Taliban assault have altered the hope he held for participating in the upcoming election. But along with resilience, fear is on display here, too. The repeated shock and violation of these attacks take a toll on even the toughest.
“I won’t take part in the elections,” he said, standing along the edge of a crowd near the site of the attack. “I wanted to vote, but all of these recent attacks have changed my mind.” An old man who survived the attack stumbled past the crowd, assisted by two police officers who held him beneath his elbows. A few journalists asked what happened, then were stopped by the stark despondence on his face, and his quivering inability to form words.
Still, many Afghans are trying to shrug off the violence, and insisting that self-determination is more important than risk. Another man, Farid, 22, said the drumbeat of attacks had finally made him rethink his decision to vote. The general insecurity, and a fear he might wind up a victim of a Taliban assault, have altered the hope he held for the coming election.
Nasir Ahmed, also among the crowd clogging the entrance to the road leading to the Independent Election Commission, said nothing would weaken his resolve to have a voice in his country’s future. “I won’t take part in the elections,” he said. “I wanted to vote, but all of these recent attacks have changed my mind.”
“We will still go and participate in the election,” he said. “These attacks can’t stop us from casting our votes.”