Afghan election staffkilled by kidnappers

Afghan villagers have found the bodies of five kidnapped election campaigners in the western province of Herat.

The five were snatched by armed men who stopped their two-vehicle convoy on Wednesday. Five others travelling in the vehicles were set free, according to a man who answered the phone at the home of candidate Fawzya Galani and declined to give his name.

No one has claimed responsibility, although Taliban insurgents have been waging a terror campaign in hopes of sabotaging the September 18 polls.

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Ms Galani may be a particular target because she is one of the few female candidates for the 249 seats in the lower house of parliament.

Parliamentary candidate Abdul Manan was also shot and killed in Herat yesterday on his way to a mosque by an attacker on a motorbike.

A number of other candidates and their assistants have been killed, injured or threatened.

Many Afghans say they do not plan to take part in the voting, either because of safety concerns or cynicism with ineffective government and disgust over widespread corruption.

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Electoral officials plan to open 5,897 polling sites for the parliamentary elections, having discarded more than 900 proposed venues because army and police could not guarantee security.

Last year, 6,167 voting centres nominally operated during presidential polls.

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