Over 400 Afghans killed or wounded in poll-related violence
KABUL: More than 400 Afghans were killed or wounded in pollrelated violence during three days of voting last month, the United Nations said yesterday, making the parliamentary ballot the deadliest on record.
The vast majority of the 435 casualties happened on the first day of voting on Oct 20, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama) said in a report.
That compares with 251 people killed or injured in the fraudtainted presidential election of 2014 and is more than any other poll since Unama began documenting civilian casualties in 2009.
In the six months leading up to the ballot, nearly 500 people were killed or wounded – more than a third of them women and children – and 245 abducted.
“Deliberate acts of violence against civilians and civilian objects–which include polling centres – as well as indiscriminate attacks, are strictly forbidden under international humanitarian law and constitute war crimes,” Unama said.
Days before the election, the Taliban issued several warnings that it would attack polling centres. It advised voters to stay home and candidates to withdraw from the race.
The Taliban mostly used rockets, grenades, mortars and bombs to disrupt the ballot and deter people from showing up at voting sites, Unama said.
The deadliest single attack, a suicide explosion in Kabul that killed 13 people and wounded 40, was claimed by the Islamic State group, it said.
Official figures show roughly 4.2 million Afghans voted, compared with nearly nine million who were registered to participate.
Many suspect a significant number of those were based on fake identification documents that fraudsters planned to use to stuff ballot boxes.
Voting was held over three days after problems with untested biometric verification devices and missing or incomplete voter rolls caused lengthy delays at polling centres.
Many voting sites opened late or not at all. Voters in the southern province of Kandahar had to wait a week to cast their ballot after the assassination of a powerful police chief sparked fears of a flare up in violence.
The parliamentary poll, which was more than three years late, is seen as a test run for next year’s presidential election. It is also considered an important milestone ahead of a UN meeting in Geneva this month where Afghanistan is under pressure to show progress on “democratic processes”.