Taliban Attack Kills 8 in Kabul
At least eight Afghan military officers have died and several more have been wounded in a suicide attack on an air force bus in Kabul.
Government officials said the attack took place near Kabul University early Wednesday.
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the bus was the intended target. The Taliban said their agent was on foot when he detonated near the bus.
On Tuesday, Afghan officials delayed preliminary results for the nation’s run-off presidential election, after failing to agree on an announcement about them. VOA reporters say sources on the Independent Election Commission now plan to announce the results next week.
Candidate Abdullah Abdullah has vowed to reject the election results, saying massive ballot box stuffing occurred during the June 14 poll. Abdullah went into the second-round run-off election widely seen as the favorite to succeed President Hamid Karzai.
The former foreign minister is running against former finance minister Ashraf Ghani.
Earlier this month, Abdullah said he was boycotting the vote-counting process because the Independent Election Commission had failed to address his fraud concerns.
The inconclusive election has left Afghanistan in limbo at a dangerous time, with a Taliban insurgency raging and most NATO-led forces preparing to leave the country by the end of the year.
An agreement with Washington to allow a smaller U.S. military presence to stay remains unsigned, as President Karzai had wanted his successor to sign the pact.
The United Nations’ mission chief in Afghanistan has warned the “rising tensions” following the election could lead to a “protracted confrontation with a danger of a slide into violence.”
(VOA)