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3 militants killed in Kabul 1 day before election

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-19 16:46

 

Afghan security forces stand guard near the scene of a shoot-out in Afghanistan's capital Kabul August 19, 2009. Gunmen stormed a bank building in the Afghan capital and battled police for hours on Wednesday on the eve of a cliffhanger election which the Taliban has vowed to disrupt. [Agencies]

KABUL: Gunfire and explosions reverberated through the heart of the Afghan capital Wednesday on the eve of the presidential election after three militants with AK-47s rifles and hand grenades overran a bank. Police stormed the building and killed the three insurgents, officials said.

The three-man attack came a day after militants fired rockets at the presidential palace and follows a suicide car bomb explosion in front of NATO's Kabul headquarters Saturday that killed seven, a drumbeat of attacks that would appear to signal the intent of Taliban insurgents and their militant allies to disrupt Thursday's vote.

President Hamid Karzai faces some three dozen presidential candidates at the polls, including his former foreign minister and top challenger, Abdullah Abdullah. The Islamist insurgents have threatened those who take part in the election - a crucial step in President Barack Obama's campaign to turn around the deteriorating war.

In a sign of how difficult election preparation have been, Afghanistan's chief electoral officer said that 20 percent of election materials hadn't yet been delivered to voting sites less than 24 hours before polls open at 7 am Thursday. Daoud Ali Najafi said Afghan army helicopters would be used to deliver the materials to insecure and difficult-to-reach regions.

The Interior Ministry has said that about a third of Afghanistan is at high risk of militant attack. No polling stations will open in eight Afghan districts under control of militants. Preliminary results of the presidential election should be announced sometime Saturday evening, he said.

Related full coverage:  Afghan Presidential Election 2009 Related readings:  Afghan ambassador calls for closer cooperation with China  NATO to keep guns quiet on Afghan election day  Key facts and figures about Afghan election  Ex-Afghan warlord returns home ahead of election  Possible outcomes of Afghan election

The three armed men took over a branch of the Pashtani bank early Wednesday in a section of Kabul's old city still in ruins from the country's 1990s civil war. Police surrounded the building, exchanging gunfire with the attackers. The sound of scattered gunfire and small explosions reverberated through the city for several hours.

Abdul Ghafar Sayedzada, head of Kabul's criminal investigations unit, said police eventually stormed the building and killed three "terrorists." Few civilians were in the area because government ministries and businesses were closed Wednesday in observance of Afghanistan's independence day celebration from British rule.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said 20 armed suicide attackers wearing explosive vests had entered Kabul and that five of them battled police. The claim could not be confirmed, but the Taliban in recent months have unleashed several attacks involving teams of insurgents assaulting government or high-profile sites.

The latest attacks were an ominous sign that the Taliban and their militant allies are determined to disrupt Thursday's election.

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