A bomb in usually peaceful northern Afghanistan killed six police, two days after a coordinated militant ambush disrupted voting during elections in the same province, the Government said yesterday.
The roadside bomb killed the commander of the Baghlan provincial rapid reaction police force and five other police in the area of Kook Chinar near Baghlan town on Saturday, the interior ministry said.
On Thursday, suspected Taliban militants stormed Baghlan town, launching a multi-pronged assault that left up to 30 militants and two police dead, and stopped voting during Afghanistan's second presidential election.
The head of the election commission, Azizullah Lodin, said at the time, ''We had to tell our people to save your [ballot] boxes and save yourselves.''
Baghlan province straddles the main road linking the Afghan capital Kabul with the north. Kunduz province, further north, has become increasingly dangerous and the main road running to the south from Kabul is another flashpoint.
On Saturday, an Afghan army officer driving back to Kabul from leave in Kandahar, the old Taliban capital in the south, was killed when gunmen opened fire around Shash Gaw in central Afghanistan, the defence ministry said.
During a United States-backed Afghan army operation, four militants were killed and six others arrested in Kandahar province on Saturday, the ministry said.
Observers highlighted cases of fraud in Afghanistan's elections last week and said voting was not universally free because of violence and intimidation.
The Taliban-led insurgency plaguing the country eight years after the 2001 US-led invasion ousted their extremist regime and implanted a Western-backed administration is at its deadliest.
With the result of the presidential election still too close to call, leading candidates, the Afghan Government and the international community appear to be preparing for the possibility of a second round run-off.
Main contenders for the top job, President Hamid Karzai and former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, claimed they were ahead based on numbers their campaign offices were gathering.
But the official result is not expected before September 3, according to the Independent Electoral Commission, and both men have been asked by Afghanistan's foreign partners to refrain from public statements on the outcome.
Afghans voted in presidential and provincial council elections on Thursday in a poll that international observers said was marred by violence and allegations of fraud, but was in the main acceptable.
The election was only the second for president in the country's history and the first Afghans have organised for themselves, the culmination of weeks of campaigning.
Foreign allies see it as a vital milestone in Afghanistan's development under the guidance of the US and the international community, which together bankrolled the vote and have more than 100,000 troops in the country.
The shadow of Taliban violence was blamed for quashing participation in southern regions where the insurgents are strong, which is likely to see turnout unevenly distributed between the south and the relatively stable north.
US-based election monitor Democracy International said, ''Violence and intimidation disenfranchised voters in a significant portion of the country.''
''In more secure areas, however, Afghans generally were able to cast votes freely.''
Preliminary indications from unofficial sources are Mr Karzai and Mr Abdullah are running neck-and-neck.
AFP
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