KABUL: A senior member of Afghanistan’s election commission survived an assassination attempt on Saturday when a suicide bomber targeted his vehicle in Kabul, killing one of his employees and wounding two others, officials said.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack on Awal Rehman Rodwal, the regional director at the Independent Election Commission, which comes after more than a month-long lull in Taliban raids on the capital.

“This morning when Rodwal was leaving for work, there was an explosion before he got into his car,” Noor Mohmmad Noor, an IEC spokesman said.

“Rodwal escaped the attack unharmed”. Noor said Rodwal’s bodyguard died in the bombing but Kabul police described the man killed as his driver.

Two others were wounded in the attack, which marks the first fatal attack on IEC staff in the heavily guarded city this year.

In March last year, just days before presidential elections, Taliban militants wearing burqas, an all-enveloping garment worn by women, unleashed rockets and gunfire on the election commission’s headquarters in Kabul.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2015