10 Afghans killed, Taliban suspected

Suspected Taliban gunmen stopped a van packed with people on a road in southern Afghanistan, then sprayed the occupants with bullets after finding that they had registered for upcoming national elections, a local police official said today.

The attack occurred on Friday on a road in southern Uruzgan province, Rozi Khan, the provincial police chief, said.

He said there were 12 men in the van when it was stopped by an unknown number of assailants.

When the gunmen searched their documents and found that they had registered to vote in landmark elections scheduled for this fall, they opened fire.

Two of the men escaped and alerted police, who found the bodies but have made no arrests.