TALIBAN CUT OFF FINGERS OF AFGHAN VOTERS

The Taliban sliced off the index fingers of at least two people in Kandahar province, according to a vote monitoring group.

• The fingers of the two women in Kandahar, a stronghold of the Taliban, were cut off because they voted, said Nader Naderi of the Free and Fair Election Foundation.
• The Taliban had vowed to disrupt Thursday's election and the risk was too great for some Afghans to venture out, especially in the southern provinces that form the heartland of the radical Islamist group.
• Just days ahead of the election, U.S. Marines and other NATO forces carried out military operations to clear and hold sectors that have long been in the Taliban grip, and free up the population to vote.
• Sporadic attacks on election day killed 26 people and injured scores more. Still, Afghan officials hailed the voting as a success.