Afghan Advocates of Election Targeted by Militants

Suspected Taliban rebels killed two tribal elders who were encouraging participation in elections and shot to death an Afghan militia commander in an ambush, officials said Saturday.

Afghan security forces searching for three elders kidnapped from Maruf district of southern Kandahar province found them lying in a stream bed late Friday, district mayor Sayed Ali said.

All had multiple gunshot wounds and two were dead. The third man had injuries to the throat and stomach and was taken to the U.S. military base in Kandahar city for treatment, Ali said.

Ali said the men, who had been abducted a week ago, were targeted because “they had been telling people to get registered for the election and to go and vote for whoever they choose.”

Members of the former ruling Taliban are leading an insurgency across the south and east of Afghanistan and have vowed to disrupt the country’s first direct presidential election on Oct. 9.

On Saturday, four gunmen riding two motorcycles ambushed the car of a militia commander in Helmand province, killing him and wounding two of his guards, said Haji Mohammed Wali, a spokesman for the governor.

He blamed the Taliban for the deadly attack on the commander, Samad Khan.

The U.S. military has vowed to use its 18,000-strong force to bolster security during the vote, and officials say U.S. forces have killed more than 100 militants since May in operations across the south and east of the country.

But American forces are periodically accused of killing civilians in their operations, and the military apologized Saturday for the death of one youth and the wounding of another in an incident in Oruzgan province.

Maj. Scott Nelson said the incident occurred Friday “in conjunction with an engagement” between militants and U.S.-led troops, and that the two were targeted when they “failed to halt after repeated warnings.”

The military “deeply regrets and apologizes for” the killings, Nelson said. No further details were available.