KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Five campaign workers for Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah were released a day after being kidnapped, a campaign official said.
Sami Panah of the Abdullah campaign said all five are in good condition, CNN reported Thursday.
The campaign workers were abducted less than one week before the country's elections. Sayed Ahmad Samey, the Badghis province security chief, said the campaign workers were in a two-car caravan traveling in northwestern Afghanistan when they were abducted.
Samey said local elders negotiated for the release of the campaign workers.
Supporters of Abdullah -- a former foreign minister who is challenging incumbent President Hamid Karzai in the election -- have been targeted before, CNN said. In July, a campaign worker was shot and wounded by a gunman, and in June, gunmen in Kapisa province killed one of Abdullah's campaign managers.
The Aug. 20 election will be Afghanistan's second presidential election since the Taliban regime was toppled in 2001.
