AFGHANISTAN: Afghan Candidate's Campaign Workers Abducted

Ten campaign workers for a female parliamentary candidate in western Afghanistan were abducted by gunmen Thursday and the Taliban claimed responsibility for two deadly attacks, one that killed eight Afghan police officers and another that killed two Spanish police trainers and a translator a day earlier.

The campaign workers, all men, were in southern Herat Province traveling between remote districts when gunmen stopped them, said Fawzia Gilani, a current member of Parliament who is running for re-election.

“I received a phone call and a person said, ‘We have your campaigners with us,' ” she said.

“I do not know who did it. I have political rivals and there are other armed groups, but I cannot blame anyone specifically because it is hard to know.”

The area where the workers were captured is remote, and a number of villages in one of the districts, Adraskan, are dominated by the Taliban, said Qader Rahimi, the Herat regional program manager for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. He said, however, that according to local officials in those districts, the abduction appeared to be related to a tribal dispute rather than Ms. Gilani's election campaign.

Ms. Gilani is a well-connected politician whose cousin is a leader of the border police in the province, and she has relatives in the national government in Kabul.

In the northern province of Kunduz, eight police officers were killed at dawn by Taliban gunmen who attacked their checkpoint on the main highway in the far north of the province, said Muhammad Omar, the provincial governor. A ninth officer was in critical condition in the provincial hospital.

“We strongly condemn this cruel action by our enemies and we have started our investigation into the incident,” Mr. Omar said.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Local residents described a fierce fight that started at 4 a.m. “We heard heavy gunfire that went on and off for an hour,” said Nisar Ahmad, 50, who lives near the checkpoint.

“We were scared to leave our house and then a rocket-propelled grenade hit one of our neighbors' houses and killed a man and injured two other men,” he said.

The Taliban also took responsibility for killing the two Spanish police trainers and their translator in Badghis Province. The killings set off an angry demonstration by villagers.

The facts of the shooting, by a disgruntled Afghan, were still emerging Thursday, with several versions of events circulating as NATO officials sent an Afghan-NATO investigative team.

“While there has been much speculation and rumor regarding the incident and demonstration, the assessment team will review evidence, gather facts and talk with people who can provide details of what happened,” said NATO officials in a statement.

The officials said early reports indicated that during a training session a member of the Afghan National Police turned his gun on the two members of the Spanish Guardia Civil police force and their civilian translator, killing all three, but added that the cause of the shooting remained unclear.

The Badghis provincial governor, Dilbar Jan Arman, said on Thursday that the attack on the Spaniards and the base was inspired by insurgents who also wanted to breach his office and the provincial prison.

“There were four hundred or five hundred people, including some insurgents, who had hand grenades and weapons,” he said, adding that the man who killed the Spaniards was a relative of a well-known Taliban commander in Badghis.