In Afghanistan, voters turned out in large numbers to vote in the country’s parliamentary elections over the weekend amid violence and deadly attacks. An Afghan official said that 27 people were killed and 100 wounded across the country on Election Day, including at least 18 people killed by a suicide bomber Saturday as they waited to cast ballots.
This comes days after the Taliban claimed responsibility for an attack that killed top Afghan General Abdul Raziq in the southern province of Kandahar, prompting a week’s delay for voting in the region. The Pentagon said Sunday U.S. Army General Jeffrey Smiley was shot and wounded in that attack. The top U.S. general in Afghanistan, Scott Miller, was also a target of the attack but survived uninjured. The elections, which were postponed three times due to security concerns, saw a record number of women and young people running for the 250 parliamentary seats. Preliminary results are expected in November.