A candidate in Afghanistan's upcoming parliamentary election was killed Wednesday in a bombing attack on his campaign office, officials in Afghanistan's Helmand province say.
Omar Zwak, the spokesman of the governor of Helmand, said Jabbar Qahraman was killed in his campaign office in Lashkargah city in an explosion that also wounded several others. A doctor in the Emergency Hospital of Helmand said two people had died and six wounded.
Local media said explosives were placed inside a sofa. However, some witnesses told VOA a suicide bomber posing as a Qahraman supporter entered the office and exploded his vest.
Abdul Salam Afghan, a Helmand police spokesman, said a team had arrived on the scene to investigate the incident.
The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the explosion. Earlier this month, the insurgent group announced it would try to derail the elections and had ordered its followers to attack those participating in the process.
This is the second such attack on a candidate in Helmand. The last attack, on the campaign offices of candidate Saleh Mohammad Achakzai, claimed eight lives, including that of the candidate. Ten candidates have been killed since the start of the campaign season.
More than 2500 people are running for 249 seats in the parliamentary elections scheduled to take place on October 20.
The Afghan government has promised 50,000 security personnel to try to safeguard the 5100 polling stations. Some 19 districts are considered highly insecure. No voting will be held in at least 10 districts due to the precarious security situation.
