KABUL — Taliban gunmen abducted a candidate running for a seat in the provincial council in northern Afghanistan and seven members of his entourage, officials said Monday. Also in the northern Sar-i-Pul province, a roadside bomb killed four Afghan policemen and wounded three on Monday, officials said. The violence is the latest in the lead-up to Saturday's balloting when Afghanistan chooses a new president to replace Hamid Karzai and also elects members for its provincial councils. The Taliban have vowed to use force to disrupt the April 5 vote. The candidate abducted in Sar-i-Pul, Hussain Nazari, and seven others were taken overnight as they were traveling in a taxi to the provincial capital. They had no security escort with them, according to Governor Abdul Jabar Haqbeen. “They were on their way from Sancharak district to the provincial capital of Sari Pul when they faced a Taliban ambush,” he said. The governor said elders in the area were trying to negotiate with the Taliban to get Nazari and the others released. In eastern Paktia province, four civilians, including a 12-year-old boy, were killed when their motorcycle hit a roadside bomb on Monday. The incident occurred near Gardez city, the capital of Paktia province. Taliban routinely plant roadside explosives that are usually aimed at military convoys but regularly kill civilians. The latest violence comes after several high-profile attacks in Kabul in the run-up to polling day. On Saturday, the Kabul headquarters of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) was attacked when five Taliban militants occupied a nearby building and unleashed rockets and gunfire at the fortified compound. All five attackers were killed by Afghan security forces six hours after the attack began, and there were no other casualties. Another IEC center, Kabul's most prestigious hotel and a guesthouse run by a US anti-landmine charity have also been targeted in recent weeks.— AP
