text: Afghan National army soldiers search a car at a checkpoint ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 20, at the Independent Election Commission compound in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Oct.... (Associated Press) 
   
   Afghan National army soldiers search a car at a checkpoint ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for Oct. 20, at the Independent Election Commission compound in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2018. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul) (Associated Press) 
   
   KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The three top officials in Afghanistan's Kandahar province were killed when their own guards opened fire on them at a security conference Thursday, the deputy provincial governor said, and a Taliban spokesman said the target was Washington's top general in Afghanistan, Gen. Scott Miller, who escaped without injury, according to NATO. 
   
   Agha Lala Dastageri, Kandahar's deputy provincial governor, said powerful provincial police chief Abdul Raziq was among the dead, along with Kandahar Gov. Zalmay Wesa, who died of his wounds at a nearby hospital. 
   
   Dastageri said provincial intelligence chief Abdul Mohmin also died inside the governor's sprawling residence where the attack occurred. 
   
   Three Americans — a service member and two civilian workers — were wounded in the shooting, said U.S. Col. Knut Peters, a spokesman for NATO troops in Afghanistan. Their conditions were not immediately known. 
   
   "Gen. Miller is unhurt," said Peters. Miller is the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. 
   
   It was members of Wesa's elite guard unit who turned their guns on their colleagues during a high-level security meeting ahead of Saturday's parliamentary elections. 
   
   Khalid Pashtun, a member of parliament from the province, said Afghan Security Forces cordoned off the area and a U.S. military helicopter circled overhead as a gun battle that began at 3 p.m. local time raged on for more than one hour. 
   
   Peters said initial reports indicate one of the original attackers is dead. He had no further information. 
   
   In a telephone interview, the spokesman for the Taliban in Afghanistan's southern region, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, said the Taliban carried out the attack. He said Gen. Miller was the target and said Raziq, the governor and the intelligence chief were killed. 
   
   Pashtun said an Afghan military corps commander was also among the dead, although he didn't name him. 
   
   An Interior Ministry official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media said Raziq rarely visited the governor's residence and was meticulous about his own security. 
   
   Razik was a particularly powerful figure in southern Kandahar and a close U.S. ally despite widespread allegations of corruption. He ruled in Kandahar, the former Taliban heartland, with an iron fist and had survived several attempts to kill him, including one last year that resulted in the death of five diplomats from the United Arab Emirates. 
   
   Security has been steadily deteriorating in Afghanistan with increasingly brazen attacks being carried out by insurgents and Afghanistan's security forces have been on high alert ahead of Saturday's elections. 
   
   The Taliban have threatened the polls and warned teachers and students not to participate in the vote and not to allow schools to be used as polling centers. The insurgents said in a statement Wednesday that they will target Saturday's elections, which they view as illegitimate, but that they do not want to harm civilians. 
   
   Meanwhile, a NATO convoy was attacked late Wednesday near the Afghan capital, killing two civilians and injuring five Czech troops, Afghan officials and the Czech military said Thursday. 
   
   The attack, which took place in the district of Bagram in Parwan province, also wounded three Afghan civilians, said Wahida Shakar, spokeswoman for the provincial governor. 
   
   Bagram is about 40 kilometers (24 miles) from Kabul and is also the home of a sprawling U.S. military base 
   
   The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack. 
   
   Of the five Czech soldiers, one was seriously injured when their vehicle overturned following the explosion. The soldier underwent surgery and the Czech military said he was not in life-threatening condition. 
   
   Earlier, NATO spokeswoman Sgt. 1st Class Debra Richardson had said three alliance service members were hurt in the bombing but didn't provide more details. 
   
   Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said an insurgent suicide bomber rammed his car into the NATO convoy. 
   
   The attack on the NATO convoy came at the end of a particularly violent day across Afghanistan as tensions are rising ahead of the country's parliamentary elections on Saturday. 
   
   A Taliban bombing in southern Helmand province killed a candidate running in the elections. The Taliban also attacked checkpoints in the northern Baghlan province, killing six policemen and wounding two others in a four-hour battle. Also, in eastern Maidan Wardak province, a suicide car bomber targeted a military vehicle, killing two Afghan army troops. 
   
   In recent months, Afghan troops have come under near-daily attacks. NATO troops, which handed over security to Afghan forces at the end of 2014, mostly train and assist with air power. So far this year, eight U.S. soldiers and three other NATO service members have died in Afghanistan. 
   
   ___ 
   
   Associated Press writer Karel Janicek in Prague contributed to this report. ||||| KABUL—One of southern Afghanistan’s most powerful political and military figures was assassinated Thursday and the top U.S. commander in the country escaped unharmed when bodyguards for the governor of southern Kandahar province opened fire following a meeting to discuss security preparations for this weekend’s parliamentary elections. 
   
   The Taliban, which has pledged to disrupt the elections set for Saturday, claimed responsibility for the attack. Gen. Abdul Razik, the Kandahar police chief who was killed, and the U.S. commander,...
target: – The top US commander in Afghanistan survived an assassination attempt Thursday, but a high-ranking Afghan official was killed. US Army Gen. Scott Miller was not injured in the attack in Kandahar City, which took place after a meeting to discuss security ahead of Saturday's national elections, reports the Wall Street Journal. However, the assault in which bodyguards for a regional governor opened fire did kill Kandahar's police chief, Gen. Abdul Raziq, described by the Journal as "one of southern Afghanistan's most powerful political and military figures." One other Afghan official was killed, the regional governor critically wounded, and three Americans—a service member and two civilians—were also hurt, per the AP. The New York Times calls the attack "one of the most devastating Taliban assassination strikes of the long Afghan war," and the Taliban confirmed afterward that Miller and Raziq had been the targets. The assault took place at the regional governor's compound. "When the high-ranking participants were heading to helicopters, an enemy infiltrator opened fire on them,” says an Afghan government official. The 39-year-old Raziq was a controversial figure, seen as crucial in maintaining order in the region but also accused of human rights abuses and corruption.