Taliban Tweets that It Killed Afghan Election Official
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Oli Scarff/Getty Images(KABUL, Afghanistan) — In what was considered a rare attack on a particular government office, the Taliban Wednesday claimed to have assassinated a member of Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission.
While Afghan officials confirmed that Mohammad Amanullah was gunned down in Kunduz Province, they would not say definitively that the Taliban was behind the murder.
However, that did not stop the group from claiming responsibility for Amanullah’s death on Twitter, the first time the Taliban has taken credit for an assassination in a tweet.
The Independent Election Commission oversees voting in Afghanistan and will be in charge of next year’s presidential and parliamentary elections.
Amanullah’s murder was viewed as a possible warning to other commission officials as well as ordinary voters planning to cast ballots next year in a pivotal election.
Meanwhile, Afghan President Hamid Karzi, who is not running next year, said, “An inclusive election will be held in this country, and the enemy’s plots against that will fail, and nothing will remain to the Taliban except denigration and disgrace.”
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