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KABUL (Reuters) – An Afghan legislator who took part in the parliamentary elections this week is among four people killed Wednesday by a bomb placed under his chair, officials said, according to the attack claimed by the Taliban.
MP Abdul Jabar Qahraman was killed while he was preparing for Saturday's election, said a senior government official. He became the 10th candidate killed in the past two months, with two more kidnappings and four wounded by extremist Islamist militants.
"Such brutal acts of terrorists and their supporters can not weaken the people's trust in peaceful and democratic processes," President Abdul Ghani said in a statement condemning the attack.
The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the explosion in southern Helmand province, saying in a statement: "We killed Qahraman, a prominent communist".
The Taliban ordered Afghans to boycott the much-delayed parliamentary elections with the aim of overthrowing the Western-backed government and establishing their own Islamist regime.
Three men sitting in Qahraman's office at the time were also killed, Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said, adding that police arrested three suspects in the capital of the country. Lashkar Gah province.
The explosion injured seven people, said Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the governor of the province.
"A bomb was placed under Qahraman's chair in his campaign office," he added. "We are investigating the incident."
Wednesday's explosion follows the death of 22 people last week in an explosion at an election rally for a candidate in Takhar province in the north-east of the country.
Report by Mohammad Stanekzai and Hamid Shalizi, Abdul Qadir Sediqi; Edited by Paul Tait and Clarence Fernandez
