9 Afghan Soldiers Are Killed in Attacks

Suspected Taliban militants launched a string of attacks on security posts in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing nine soldiers, an official said.

The attacks came the same day that the head of U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan warned that the Taliban and its Al Qaeda allies were stepping up plans to disrupt the nation’s landmark presidential election on Oct. 9.

Haji Mohammed Wali, spokesman for the governor of Helmand province, said an unspecified number of gunmen launched raids on three security posts along a road between Girishk in the southern province of Helmand and Delawar in the western province of Farah.

Three soldiers were killed in the first attack and six in the second. There were no casualties in the third.

Wali blamed the “enemies of Afghanistan,” a phrase often used to describe remnants of the ousted Taliban militia, which opposes the election and has been accused of launching a wave of violence that has claimed more than 1,000 lives since August last year.

A Taliban spokesman said that the group had carried out the attacks and that 15 government soldiers had been killed and two captured.

In Kabul, the U.S. military commander in Afghanistan said coalition forces had intelligence reports saying Taliban and Al Qaeda fighters were stepping up plans to disrupt the election, which is two weeks away.

“For all terrorists in the region ... disrupting the election is part of their agenda,” Lt. Gen. David Barno said at a news conference.

“We must stand firm and not allow a tiny minority of terrorists to negate the hard work, commitment and courage of millions of Afghans” who have registered to vote, he added.

Almost three years after the fall of the Taliban, the general acknowledged that his 18,000-strong force still faced a “significant counterinsurgency.”

Militants killed three American soldiers last week, and U.S.-backed interim President Hamid Karzai escaped a rocket attack on his helicopter this month.

Karzai is facing a field of 17 challengers in the election, but his most serious competition is thought to be his former education minister, Younis Qanooni. If any candidate fails to get more than 50% of the vote, a runoff will be held.