Afghan Elections start heating up
Monday, July 27, 2009
[AFP]
A vice-presidential candidate in Afghanistan's upcoming election has escaped unharmed from an attack on his convoy in the country's north, Afghan officials have said.
Armed men ambushed the convoy carrying Mohammed Qasim Fahim as he was travelling through the northern province of Kunduz on Sunday, officials said.
Fahim, who is a running mate of Hamid Karzai, the incumbent Afghan president, was travelling from Kunduz to Takhar province when the attackers opened fire with rockets launchers and machine guns.
The former head of the Northern Alliance that helped topple the Taliban in 2001, Fahim was in the area to campaign on Karzai's behalf ahead of the August 20 poll.
"A ministry of interior spokesman has told Al Jazeera that Fahim was uninjured in this attack but he says that one of his bodyguards was injured as was a TV cameraman who was travelling with the vice-presidential hopeful's convoy."
Bays said that the attack raised new questions about the level of security for candidates ahead of the election.
"Fahim was travelling in northern Afghanistan, normally seen as one of the more stable parts of the country," he said.
A vice-presidential candidate in Afghanistan's upcoming election has escaped unharmed from an attack on his convoy in the country's north, Afghan officials have said.
Armed men ambushed the convoy carrying Mohammed Qasim Fahim as he was travelling through the northern province of Kunduz on Sunday, officials said.
Fahim, who is a running mate of Hamid Karzai, the incumbent Afghan president, was travelling from Kunduz to Takhar province when the attackers opened fire with rockets launchers and machine guns.
The former head of the Northern Alliance that helped topple the Taliban in 2001, Fahim was in the area to campaign on Karzai's behalf ahead of the August 20 poll.
"A ministry of interior spokesman has told Al Jazeera that Fahim was uninjured in this attack but he says that one of his bodyguards was injured as was a TV cameraman who was travelling with the vice-presidential hopeful's convoy."
Bays said that the attack raised new questions about the level of security for candidates ahead of the election.
"Fahim was travelling in northern Afghanistan, normally seen as one of the more stable parts of the country," he said.
