Low turnout,attacks mark Afghan polls

Hundreds of polling stations either closed or came under attack and at least 10 civilians were killed in Afghanistans parliamentary elections on Saturday.

Hundreds of polling stations either closed or came under attack and at least 10 civilians were killed in Afghanistans parliamentary elections on Saturday,even as officials insisted the vote was generally safe nationwide.

Kandahar was particularly hard hit. Explosions were heard every half hour through the morning,and 31 had occurred by mid-morning including rockets fired by insurgents,according to a security official there. Kandahar Governor Tooryalai Wesa toured polling places to encourage voter turnout,but his own convoy was hit by a roadside bomb.

Voter turnout was low in Marja,Helmand,as bullets flew over a polling station,and insurgents launched a rocket-propelled grenade into a US Marine base here.

Nationwide,authorities could only confirm that 92 per cent of the 5,816 polling centres had opened as planned,and there was no word from the other 8 per cent,raising concerns that security conditions had forced them to close,according to the Independent Election Commission. The commission had previously canceled 1,000 polling centres because the authorities could not secure them.

The 8 per cent of non-reporting polling places were in nine provinces in the northeast,northwest,east and south,Fazal Ahmad Manawi,the chairman of the IEC,said. He added,however,that every province had at least 50 per cent of its polling places open.

Halfway through the voting day,even in a safe neighbourhood of downtown Kabul,only 150 men and 130 women had cast their ballots. But there was little violence in the capital.

In Guldara District in Kabul Province,village polling places were lightly attended. In one spot,only four women voted,other than official election observers. In the more populated district centre,however,650 people,including 150 women,had voted,and others were streaming in an hour before polls closed at 4 pm.

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In Kandahar,the Taliban papered the city with nightletters on the eve of the election,warning people not to vote in Americanised elections and that anyone doing so would be a target.

In Kunduz,16 civilians were injured during election-related violence,some while casting their votes and others in their homes when rockets were fired into them by insurgents,said Governor Mohammed Omar. Hospital officials said five were killed and three wounded in rocket,mortar and bomb attacks in the province.

In Nangarhar,bombs were hidden in a mosque that was to be used as a polling station but exploded with out harming anyone. However,in Chapayar town,two people were killed by a rocket. Baghlan Governor Munshi Abdul Majid said a NATO air strike accidentally killed three members of a village defence team during a clash with Taliban.

A statement posted on a pro-Taliban website claimed the insurgents had attacked more than 100 polling centres. However,the Free and Fair Elections Foundation said the elections were safe.

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In the first reported instance of fraud,a woman who worked for the IEC in Lashkar Gah,Helmand,was arrested with 1,500 fake voter registration cards,according to a spokesman for the Helmand Governors office. He said the employee was the daughter of a woman candidate.

At a polling centre in Kunduz city,journalists and election observers watched as IEC officials and supporters of some of the candidates locked the doors for two hours and filled out ballots themselves.