KABUL: A suicide car bomber killed at least seven people in the Afghan capital on Tuesday and a Taleban rocket hit the presidential palace grounds as violence surged across the country just two days before a cliffhanger election.
Security officials said at least 52 were wounded by the suicide bomber, who rammed his explosive-laden vehicle into the convoy on the notorious Jalalabad road, scene of frequent Taleban attacks and home to many Western aid and military compounds.
A spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan said foreign troops were among the dead and wounded, without elaborating. The UN mission in Kabul said two of its Afghan staff members were also among the dead.
With incumbent Hamid Karzai fighting to win a fresh mandate without a second round run-off, Thursday’s election is also a test of US President Barack Obama’s strategy of escalating the 8-year-old conflict in an effort to reverse recent Taleban gains.
Polls show Karzai likely to win Thursday’s vote, but suggest he may fall just short of the outright majority needed to avoid a second round in six weeks. Taleban militants, meanwhile, have vowed to disrupt the poll with violence.
Thick black smoke poured from the scene of Tuesday’s suicide bombing and police held back onlookers as the wounded were ferried away in ambulances and pickup trucks.
A police source said one caused some damage inside the sprawling, fortified presidential palace compound and a second hit the capital’s police headquarters. Neither caused any casualties.
Scattered violence shook the rest of the country, much of it linked to the election. Despite the violence, Kai Eide, the UN special envoy for Afghanistan, said he expected the vote would be a success.
Abdullah, an urbane eye doctor, has run an energetic campaign, seeking to garner support from beyond his base in the mainly ethnic Tajik north. Recent polls give Karzai about 45 percent of the vote to 25 percent for Abdullah.
The president’s reliance for support on ex-militia leaders such as Uzbek General Abdul Rashid Dostum has raised alarm among his international backers worried that warlords could return to power in the country they dominated for decades.
