A female Afghan politician expelled from parliament for alleged voter fraud vowed Sunday to continue her hunger strike outside parliament in Kabul until she is reinstated.
Simeen Barakzai, who began her hunger strike eight days ago, refused to be taken to a hospital or to take a glucose drip, even though a doctor told the French news agency that her health is entering a critical condition.
Barakzai is one of nine members of parliament removed from their seats in August by Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission, which is trying to resolve long-running allegations of voter fraud against some winners of a 2010 parliamentary vote. Some lawmakers who boycotted parliament to protest the expulsions returned to their seats on Saturday.
In other developments, NATO said Sunday two of its service members were killed in an insurgent attack a day earlier in southern Afghanistan. It gave no other details.
NATO also said combined Afghan and coalition forces captured or killed several Taliban leaders and detained a number of suspected insurgents in security operations across the country Saturday and Sunday. It said one of the Taliban leaders captured in northern Kunduz province was a roadside bomb expert, while another detained in eastern Nangarhar province helped to bring explosives and weapons from Pakistan into Afghanistan.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
