Taliban Hits Taliban Just Before National Elections in Afghanistan

Enduring FreedomJust over a month after an al Qaeda commander in Iraq accidently blew himself up along with twenty-one aspiring suicide bombers while instructing them on the tools of the trade with a live belt packed with explosives, reports are coming out of Afghanistan that a fighter recently killed fifteen of this commanders in a suicide attack.

A report from the respected Afghan news organization Tolo on Tuesday has it that a suicide bomber hit a meeting of Taliban commanders in Ghazni province in eastern Afghanistan, which also may have included members of the Pakistani Taliban.

The purpose of the meeting was purportedly to discuss planning attacks to mar the national elections slated for April 5, in which the Afghan people will elect a new president, as well as members of parliament.

Tolo says that according to information provided by the National Directorate of Security in Kabul, the suicide bomber was “reportedly attempting to keep them from carrying out plans to disrupt Saturday’s elections, according to Afghan officials.”

There has been a spike in violence around Kabul in in urban centers in recent weeks believed to be related to the elections, including attacks on Independent Election Commission offices around the country.

 

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Paul McLeary

McLeary covers national security policies at the White House, Pentagon, the Hill, and State Department.
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