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Rockets hit capital two days before Afghan vote
Tue Aug 18, 2009 2:44am EDT
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By Peter Graff and Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - A Taliban rocket struck the grounds of Afghanistan's presidential palace on Tuesday, just two days before incumbent Hamid Karzai seeks re-election in tense polls that could go to a second round.
Not only is Karzai fighting for a fresh mandate, but the election is also a test of U.S. President Barack Obama's strategy of escalating the 8-year-old conflict in an effort to reverse recent Taliban gains.
In a speech on Monday aimed at bolstering public support, Obama called the Afghan conflict "a war worth fighting."
Election campaigning officially ended at midnight after a final day that saw hectic rallies in support of Karzai and his main rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
Polls show Karzai likely to win Thursday's vote, but not with the outright majority required to avoid a second round. He is relying on the last-minute support of former guerrilla chieftains in a bid to tip the balance.
His main rival Abdullah, an urbane eye doctor, has run an energetic campaign, seeking to garner support from beyond his base in the mainly ethnic-Tajik north.
Several small rockets were fired overnight at the capital and a police source said one caused some damage inside the sprawling, fortified presidential palace compound, while a second hit the capital's police headquarters. Neither caused any casualties.
Other rockets hit the eastern city of Jalalabad, including one that hit a house, wounding ten people, provincial government spokesman Ahmad Zia Abdulzai said.
In the northern Jowzjan province, gunmen shot dead a provincial council candidate, Murdian district chief Abdullah Radmanish said.
Militants who have vowed to disrupt Thursday's election have fired rockets at the capital twice this month. On Saturday they detonated a massive suicide bomb outside the headquarters of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in central Kabul, killing seven people and wounded dozens more.
Such attacks have been rare in the capital this year.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, in a message sent to Reuters via mobile phone, claimed the fighters had fired four rockets, but gave no further details.
MILITIA CHIEFTAINS
Recent polls give Karzai about 45 percent of the vote to 25 percent for Abdullah. Since the polls were conducted, Karzai has secured the last-minute endorsements of some former militia chieftains, hoping they help secure a first round victory.
Karzai's reliance on the ex-militia leaders has raised alarm among his international backers worried that warlords could return to power in the country they dominated for decades. Continued...
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