KABUL, Afghanistan
At least 33 people and 18 Afghan soldiers have been killed amid a wave of attacks across Afghanistan during the second round of presidential elections, according to Afghanistan's Minister of Defense.
A total of 137 were also wounded as Taliban insurgents throughout Afghanistan sought to disrupt the election on Sunday by carrying out 506 attacks.
Zahir Azimi, the spokesman for the Ministry of Defense said: "Despite the huge efforts that the Taliban made to disrupt the election, a huge number of brave people of Afghanistan participated in the polls.
“Unfortunately, there were more casualties among civilians this time.”
- Bombs defused
He said 63 civilians and 74 soldiers were wounded in different provinces around the country and 231 bombs were defused.
Azimi claimed that 176 Taliban were killed and 93 wounded in different clashes and military operations amid the polling.
The runoff was held between the former foreign minister, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, and ex-World Bank official and former finance minister Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
The two were the top two in the first round among eight presidential candidates.
The Afghan Independent Election Commission estimated that about seven million people voted in the runoff.
KABUL, Afghanistan
The voting process in the second round of Afghanistan's presidential election has ended with less voters having turned out compared to the first round.
“The voting has concluded at 4 p.m local time all over the country,” Noor Mohammad Noor, the spokesman for Afghan Independent Election Commission, told Anadolu Agency, despite not giving information about the voter turnout.
In the capital, Kabul, many Afghans rushed to vote till the end of the voting, but long queues of people were not witnessed unlike the first round.
The runoff is between the former foreign minister Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and ex-World Bank official and former finance minister Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, who were the top two candidates at the end of the first round on April 5.
The polls started in the morning despite threats by Taliban insurgents to disrupt the election.
According to the interior ministry, there had been 150 minor attacks by the Taliban across the country on Saturday.
