Abdullah escapes assassination bid

Afghan presidential front-runner Abdullah Abdullah escaped an assassination attempt yesterday when two blasts hit his campaign motorcade in Kabul, killing at least six people just ahead of a hotly contested run-off election.
"The first attack was a suicide car bomb on a convoy of Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and the second was a mine attack," Sayed Gul Agha Hashemi, head of Kabul police's criminal investigation branch, told AFP.
Abdullah said he was unhurt, but at least six people were killed and 22 others wounded, according to the interior ministry.
The blast site was cordoned off by security officials as ambulances rushed to the scene and took the wounded to hospital, making their way through a sandstorm that hit the capital.
The blast occurred soon after Abdullah left an election rally in the city's Ariana hotel. Some witnesses in the area reported hearing two ear-splitting explosions.
The assassination attempt came ahead of the second-round presidential election on June 14, which Taliban insurgents have threatened to disrupt.
No one has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.