Kabul, August 26: Hamid Karzai and his chief challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, were running neck and neck in the Afghan election according to figures for the preliminary count released yesterday.
But the partial count was overshadowed by a series of car bomb blasts in the southern city of Kandahar which killed at least 41 people and wounded 64. The five explosions occurred close to the offices of foreign aid and development agencies, hospital officials and police said.
Only 10 per cent of votes in the election have been tallied so far, most from the northern provinces where Abdullah has his natural constituency. A spokesman for Democracy International said the figures were too few to give a clear picture of the outcome.
–Agencies