Car bombs kill 41 as Afghan votes tallied

FIVE car bombs that detonated simultaneously rocked Afghanistan’s largest southern city Kandahar yesterday, killing at least 41 people and inuring more than 50.

The force of the explosion shattered windows around the city and sent flames shooting into the sky.

Afghan officials said the blast appeared to target a Japanese construction company that mostly employs Pakistani engineers.

The blast collapsed the company headquarters and destroyed part of a nearby wedding hall.

In other violence yesterday, a bomb blast killed four US troops in southern Afghanistan.

The attacks happened as first partial results from Afghanistan’s election had President Hamid Karzai and his main rival running neck-and-neck yesterday, suggesting a close race headed for a second round.

The country has been in political limbo since last Thursday’s election, with Karzai and chief rivalAbdullah Abdullah each claiming victory. Abdullah and other challengers have accused Karzai and theauthorities of fraud.

The elections are a major test for Karzai after eight years in power and for US President Barack Obama, who has poured in thousands of extra troops as part of his new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and stabilise Afghanistan.

The results, based on 10% of votes counted, gave Karzai a slight edge with 41% against 39% for Abdullah, his former foreign minister – a difference of about 10,000 out of about 524,000 valid votes counted.

The results also suggest a disappointing turnout of only about five million votes in a country of 30 million people and an estimated 15 million eligible voters.

Taliban fighters had launched attacks and threatened reprisals against voters during Thursday’s election, scaring many Afghans away from the polls, especially in the violent south.

“We will not allow big fraud to decide the outcome. There is no doubt state-crafted widespread fraud is underway,” Abdullah told reporters before the results were released by the Independent Election Commission.

Abdullah said he had no plans to make a deal with Karzai to drop his bid for the presidency.

“I will not make deals with anybody ... I will defend your votes,” he said. Asked if the election dispute could lead to violence, he added: “I hope not.”

Karzai was not immediately available for comment.

Election officials have cautioned against drawing conclusions about the final count from the initial small samples. They promise to provide daily updates, but the complete count is not due until September 3.

Behind the two leaders, Ramazan Bashardost, a member of the Hazara ethnic minority who ran a quixotic campaign from a tent across the street from parliament, placed third with about 11%. Former finance minister Ashraf Ghani won 3%.