At least eight people died and ten were wounded when a suicide bomber attacked an election rally in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday.
The bomber detonated a device at the rally in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand, a southern province bordering Pakistan that has experienced some of the fiercest fighting of the Taliban insurgency.
The Taliban has increased its attacks in strategic provinces before an election on October 20. On Monday the militants ordered Afghans to boycott the vote, while demanding a withdrawal of foreign forces as the only way to end the 17-year war.
The attack in Lashkar Gah took place in the office of a parliamentary election candidate while a campaign rally was under way. The candidate, Saleh Mohammad Achekzai, was wounded in the attack, said government official, Omar Zwak.
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