A senior member of Afghanistan's election commission survived an assassination attempt Saturday when a suicide bomber targeted his vehicle in Kabul, killing one of his employees and wounding two others, officials said. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack on Awal Rehman Rodwal, the regional director at the Independent Election Commission, which comes after more than a month-long lull in Taliban raids on the capital.
"This morning when Rodwal was leaving for work, there was an explosion before he got into his car," Noor Mohmmad Noor, an IEC spokesman told AFP. "Rodwal escaped the attack unharmed." Noor said Rodwal's bodyguard died in the bombing but Kabul police described the man killed as his driver.
Two others were wounded in the attack, which marks the first fatal attack on IEC staff in the heavily guarded city this year. There was no immediate comment from the Taliban, who have been blamed for several such incidents in the past. In March last year, just days before presidential elections, Taliban militants wearing burqas, an all-enveloping garment worn by women, unleashed rockets and gunfire on the election commission's headquarters in Kabul.
Afghan forces gunned down the five gunmen who targeted the heavily-fortified building and IEC officials were unharmed after many hid for hours in reinforced safe-rooms. The Taliban have waged a bloody insurgency against the Afghan government and Nato forces since being toppled from power in a 2001 US-led invasion.