5 Traveling With Election Overseers in Afghanistan are Killed

Five people traveling in an election commission jeep were killed in a roadside explosion today in the southeastern province of Paktika close to the Pakistani border, the election commission spokesman in Kabul said. The deaths were a reminder that although the Oct. 9 presidential election passed without any major attacks, insurgents remain a deadly threat to election and government officials in the south and southeast of the country. An election official was among those killed in the latest explosion, along with his driver and three civilians, said Sultan Ahmad Baheen, a spokesman for the Joint Election Management Board. It was not clear if the explosion was aimed specifically at the election vehicle, but the gray-colored jeeps have been targeted before. Twelve election workers were killed and 33 injured in the months running up to the election, and 14 people, mostly police and soldiers, were killed on election day. [more ]