Kabul: Voters in Afghanistan have defied deadly attacks to cast ballots in large numbers in the nation’s long-awaited parliamentary elections.
Several explosions targeted polling stations, with dozens of people killed or injured in scores of incidents across the country.
Voting will be extended amid delays, with some constituencies remaining open on Sunday.
A new biometric verification system has caused technical problems.
Violence had also marred election campaigning, with 10 candidates killed in the run-up to the polls. Both the Taliban and the Islamic State group had vowed to disrupt them.
Polling day has seen dozens of incidents of violence, with scores of deaths and injuries reported:
At least 15 people were killed in a suicide bombing in Kabul
At least three people were killed and more than 30 others wounded in other incidents in Kabul, the AFP news agency reports.
The defence ministry has deployed 70,000 members of the security forces to try to ensure the elections pass off peacefully.
But nearly a third of all polling stations were closed because of security concerns.
Security was not the only issue threatening the vote. Past elections have been marred by corruption and fraud, with cases of ballot box stuffing, multiple voting and voter intimidation all documented.
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