Election Worker, Policeman Killed In Attack In Western Afghanistan

Afghan employees of the Independent Election Commission wait to register residents at a voter-registration center for the upcoming parliamentary and district council elections in Kabul last month.

Unidentified gunmen have killed an employee of a voter-registration center and a police officer in the western Afghan province of Herat, officials say.

A spokesman for the provincial police chief said the attack took place in the Chishti Sharif district late on May 27.

The two were taken out of their homes and killed, the spokesman said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which came as the Taliban has ramped up attacks across Afghanistan since the start of their annual spring offensive.

Voter-registration centers have also been targeted ahead of long-delayed parliamentary elections scheduled for October.

In April, at least 60 people were killed in a suicide bombing outside such a center in the capital, Kabul, that was claimed by the extremist group Islamic State (IS).

The Western-backed government in Kabul has been struggling to fend off the Taliban, IS, and other militant groups since the withdrawal of most NATO troops in 2014.