Polls close in Afghanistan

Afghan officials began counting votes as polling sites closed in the presidential election today.

Afghan officials have begun counting votes as polling sites closed in the presidential election today.

Taliban threats had appeared to dampen voter turnout in the militant south with scattered rocket, suicide and bomb attacks that closing some voting sites.

Low turnout in the south would harm President Hamid Karzai's re-election chances and boost the standing of his top challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.

Turnout in the north appeared to be stronger than in the south, a good sign for Abdullah.

Election officials extended voting by one hour to 1330BST to allow more people to vote.

International officials have predicted an imperfect election - Afghanistan's second-ever direct presidential vote - but expressed hope that Afghans would accept it as legitimate, a key component of Western war strategy.

A voting official in Kandahar, the south's largest city and the Taliban's spiritual birthplace, said voting appeared to be 40% lower than during the country's 2004 presidential election.

Militants carried out attacks around the country. Security companies in the capital reported at least five blasts, and Kabul police exchanged fire for more than an hour with a group of armed men; two suicide bombers died in the clash.

Mr Karzai, dressed in his traditional purple-and-green-striped robe, voted first thing at a Kabul high school. He dipped his index finger in indelible ink - a fraud prevention measure - and held it up for the cameras. Presidential palace officials released a rare photo of his wife casting her vote.

Mr Karzai, who has held power since the Taliban was overthrown in late 2001 by the West, is favoured to finish first among 36 official candidates, although a late surge by Mr Abdullah could force a runoff if no one wins more than 50%.

Preliminary results were expected to be announced in Kabul on Saturday.

Militants carried out a string of assaults around the country. In northern Baghlan province, attacks closed 14 polling sites, and the police chief of Old Baghlan city and several police were killed.

In southern Helmand province more than 20 rockets landed in the capital of Lashkar Gah, including one near a line of voters that killed a child.

A blast at a high school in Kabul serving as a polling centre wounded an election monitor and briefly shut down voting In the Helmand province town of Dahaneh - a former Taliban stronghold until US troops invaded this month - Marines delivered presidential ballots in two helicopters just after noon.

Voter turnout in the insurgency-plagued Pashtun south is not only crucial to Mr Karzai's chances but also to public acceptance of the results.

Mr Karzai is widely expected to have good support from his fellow Pashtuns, the country's largest ethnic group that also forms the overwhelming majority of the Taliban.

Mr Karzai has sought to ensure his re-election by striking alliances with regional power brokers, naming as a running mate a Tajik strongman and welcoming home notorious Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum.

Mr Abdullah, who is part Tajik, is expected to win much of his votes in the Tajik north, where security is better.