Taliban Attack Election Commission HQ in Kabul; Police Kill All 5 Armed Militants Wearing Burqas

Taliban militants attacked the main Afghan election commission's headquarters in Kabul yesterday -- the latest in a series of audacious assaults threatening to scare voters away just a week before Afghans go to the polls -- the Washington Times website reports today (March 30, 2014).

It was the third attack in Kabul in five days claimed by the Taliban. The Islamic militant movement has promised a campaign of violence to disrupt the April 5 elections to choose the country's next president and provincial council members.

The five attackers disguised themselves as women -- wearing the all-encompassing burqa -- to sneak unnoticed into a building that overlooked the heavily fortified Independent Election Commission's headquarters on the eastern edge of the capital, officials said.

Afghan police killed all five militants after a four-hour standoff, Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad Ayub Salangi said. Two policemen were wounded in the firefight after security forces surrounded the building. None of the dozens of employees and other people -- who had been hiding inside the election commission headquarters -- was injured, Salangi added.