Glitches remain; casualties soar

Problems plagued hundreds of polling centres yesterday as Afghans unable to vote in Saturday's parliamentary election were given another chance to cast their ballot.

As voters once again braved the threat of militant attacks in more than 20 provinces, an AFP tally of casualty figures from across the war-torn country showed the number of civilians and security forces killed or wounded in polling-related violence on Saturday was nearly 300.

That is more than four times the latest figures released by the interior ministry.

At some of the 253 polling centres opened for voting yesterday, election workers still struggled to use biometric verification devices and voter rolls were "either incomplete or non-existent", Electoral Complaints Commission spokesman Ali Reza Rohani told reporters.

Another 148 polling sites that were supposed to open remained closed for security reasons, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) told AFP.

Afghans are scheduled for presidential vote April.

Initial IEC figures show around three million Afghans risked their lives to vote on Saturday -- many waiting hours for polling centres to open -- despite scores of militant attacks.

Taliban, who opposes democracy, on Saturday claimed it carried out more than 400 attacks on the "fake election".

There were no reports of poll-related violence on Sunday, but officials said a roadside bomb killed 11 members of a family driving in the eastern province of Nangarhar.