Afghan authorities: 3 protecting voter registration killed

KABUL, Afghanistan – Three police protecting voter registration centers in two Afghan provinces were killed by militants over a two-day period this week, authorities said Saturday.

Sharafuddin Majhidi, spokesman for the governor of western Badghis province, said five rockets were fired by militants on a voter registration center in the provincial capital Qalay-i-Now, killing one officer and wounding two others on Friday.

On Thursday night, two other police officers were killed by unknown gunman at a registration center in Jalalabad in eastern Nangarhar province and their weapons taken, said Abdul Ghafar, a member of parliament.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Afghanistan Parliament elections are set for October.

Also on Saturday, an Afghan official said a roadside bomb killed five people in eastern Nangarhar province. Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the explosion struck a vehicle in the Aska Mina district on Friday, killing the five and wounding 14 civilians.

Khogyani sad women and children were among the victims.

No one immediately took responsibility for the bombing but Khogyani blamed the Taliban, saying they regularly plant roadside bombs targeting Afghan officials and security forces.

Afghanistan has the highest number of mine victims in the world, which along with other roadside bombs kill or wound scores of civilians.

Earlier this month, the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said the country’s civilian death toll in the first three months of this year was a staggering 763 people.