Kidnapped Afghan campaign workers found dead

Afghan villagers today found the bodies of five kidnapped campaign workers for a parliamentary candidate in the western province of Herat.

District chief Nasar Ahmad Popul said residents of Herat’s Adraskan district reported finding the bodies.

The five were snatched by armed men who stopped their two-vehicle convoy on Wednesday. Five others travelling in the vehicles were set free, according to a man who answered the phone at the home of candidate Fawzya Galani and declined to give his name.

No one has claimed responsibility for the killings, although Taliban insurgents have been waging a campaign of murder and intimidation in hopes of sabotaging the September 18 polls.