Taliban assassins riding motorbikes have gunned down a senior election official in northern Afghanistan, raising fears the presidential vote due in April will trigger a surge in violence.
Amanullah Aman, the head of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) in Kunduz province, was killed by two gunmen outside his home in Kunduz city as he left for work on Wednesday.
He was the first election official to be murdered since candidate nominations opened on Monday. All potential runners in the wide-open race to succeed President Hamid Karzai must declare themselves by October 6.
"Aman was shot dead in the morning in front of his house as he was leaving for his office," Kunduz provincial spokesman Enayatullah Khaliq told AFP.
"Two men on motorcycles opened fire on his car and severely wounded him; he later died in the hospital."
Deputy police chief Ebadullah Talwar said Aman was murdered after going grocery shopping and was not accompanied by any bodyguards. Talwar added that five arrests had already been made, but gave no further details.
The Taliban, who often target government officials, released a brief statement on their website claiming responsibility for the attack.
Last month Taliban leader Mullah Omar called the election a "waste of time", but has so far stopped short of threatening an increase in attacks targeting preparations for the vote on April 5.
"We'll boycott elections in April. We did not say we'll attack it, but the commanders on the ground will," one member of the Taliban, who dismiss Karzai as a US puppet, told AFP recently.
The election coincides with the withdrawal of 87,000 NATO combat troops by the end of 2014 as Afghan soldiers and police take charge of the fight against the Taliban.
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