Eleven killed in Afghan election violence

The Taliban had warned people not to participate in Saturday’s vote to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai. The two candidates, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and ex-finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, have vowed to improve ties with the West and sign a long-delayed security pact allowing nearly 10,000 US troops to remain in the country for two more years.

Sediq Azizi, spokesman for the provincial governor in the northern Samangan province, said a minibus hit an improvised explosive device on Saturday night, with the blast killing six women, one child and four men in the provincial capital Aybak.

Mr Azizi said four of the victims were employees of the country’s election commission, which organised the vote. It was not immediately clear if they were the target of the explosion.

In a separate incident, the Taliban cut off the fingers of 11 civilians in western Herat province to punish them for voting, police spokesman Raoud Ahamdi said.

Afghans braved threats of violence and searing heat to vote, which likely will mark the country’s first peaceful transfer of authority, an important step towards democracy as foreign combat troops leave.

Mr Abdullah, who emerged as the front-runner with 45 per cent of the vote in the first round, faced Mr Ahmadzai, an ex-World Bank official. Neither garnered the majority needed to win outright, but previous candidates and their supporters have since offered endorsements to each, making the outcome unpredictable.

Independent Election Commission chairman Ahmad Yousuf Nouristani said initial estimates showed that more than seven million Afghans voted on Saturday.