Gunmen ambushed and killed a militia commander and fatally shot eight other people in one of Afghanistan's top drug-producing regions, police said Thursday. Investigators said the motive for the violence was unclear, but it served to highlight the country's lawlessness even as votes are counted in an election supposed to foster stability. The bloodshed began Wednesday afternoon when four gunmen descended from a mountain range to pour gunfire into a pickup truck carrying Commander Aslam, a local strongman in Jurm district of Badakhshan province. Aslam and four of his men were killed, said Fazel Ahmad Naseri, head of the criminal department for the provincial police. The gunmen apparently moved on to the commander's home village of Serghamero and killed four more people, probably fighters loyal to Aslam, Naseri said.
