Suicide Car Bomb Targets Afghan Official

Kabul: A suicide car bombing in Kabul aimed at a senior government official killed one civilian and wounded three others on Saturday but did not harm its apparent target, Afghan security officials said.

Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Stanikzai said a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle alongside the armoured car of Mohammed Masoom Stanikzai, a senior official in the High Peace Council, a government body tasked with peace talks with the Taliban insurgency. The two men are not related.

Shafiullah, a police officer at the scene, said Stanikzai, who also serves as an adviser to President Hamid Karzai, was not harmed because he was traveling in an armoured car. He said that while the explosion was "very strong" it took place early in the morning when the streets were relatively empty. Like many Afghans, the police officer only has one name.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taliban frequently launch suicide attacks against Afghan civilians, government officials and security forces.

The attack came a week after a presidential runoff to choose a successor to Karzai, who has governed Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion toppled the Taliban.

Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, who is running against Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a former finance minister, has accused electoral officials and others of trying to rig the June 14 vote against him. That has threatened what Western officials had hoped would be a peaceful transfer of authority, as Karzai is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.

Abdullah announced this week that he was severing ties with the Independent Election Commission and would refuse to recognise any results it releases. He also suggested that the UN step in, an idea supported by Karzai. The IEC's official timetable says initial results are due on July 2.

On Saturday around a thousand protesters gathered in Kabul to demonstrate against the electoral commission, accusing it of fraud and chanting: "Our vote is our blood and we will stand up for it!" Hundreds of anti-riot police surrounded the demonstration, which was peaceful.

"We gather today to protest against the election commission, which is not an independent commission at all. They are conducting fraud for a specific candidate," said Mohammed Ghani Sharifi, a 23-year-old protester. "The people are so upset and they cannot tolerate such fraud because the people took risks to cast their votes."

While the vote was relatively peaceful, the Taliban had warned people not to participate and carried out a handful of attacks in different parts of the country.

Afghanistan's next president is expected to sign a long-delayed security pact to allow nearly 10,000 American troops to remain in the country after most foreign forces withdraw by the end of the year. Both candidates have promised to sign the pact, but the next president must be sworn in first.

Meanwhile, in the western Herat province, one civilian was killed and another was wounded when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb, provincial police spokesman Raouf Ahmadi said, adding that the two were on their way to the district bazaar.