KABUL: The Taliban militants have kidnapped a candidate running for a seat in the provincial council and seven other persons last night in the northern Sar-i-Pul province of Afghanistan, Governor Abdul Jabar Haqbeen said on Monday.
The incident occurred a few days before the war-torn country will hold its third presidential and provincial council elections since the fall of the Taliban.
Haqbeen said that the candidate Hussain Nazari and seven others were travelling in a taxi to the provincial capital and had no security escort with them. Meanwhile, the Taliban militants abducted them and taken them to an undisclosed location, he said.
The governor said that elders in the area are trying to negotiate with the Taliban to get Nazari and the others released.
The Afghan Taliban have vowed a campaign of violence to disrupt the polls scheduled for April 5, urging their fighters to attack polling staff, voters and security forces in the run-up to election day.
