Afghanistan

Kidnapped Election Workers Found Dead

Ambushed by Taliban during voting.

Afghan officials have found the bodies of three people who were ambushed and kidnapped while taking ballots in the Balkh province of Afghanistan during the country’s crucial parliamentary elections. They had been shot by AK-47s. The Afghan elections, an important marker for the stability of its government as the American withdrawal deadline nears, were more violent than initial reports indicated; militants killed at least 21 voters and wounded 46 others in attacks on 93 polling places. The Taliban said the election was a fraud put on by the U.S., though a different kind of fraud was reported as workers began counting ballots Sunday. Voters reportedly washed off the purple ink that marked them as voters so they could cast several ballots; ballot stuffing was reported at stations with few election observers.