Afghan President Hamid Karzai extended his lead today over challenger Abdullah Abdullah with around 17 per cent of last week's votes counted, officials said.
An Independent Election Commission official told a news conference a running tally had Mr Karzai with 43 per cent of the vote compared with Mr Abdullah's 34 per cent. Mr Karzai needs a simple majority of more than 50 per cent to avoid a second round run-off.
The Taliban today denied responsibility for a massive attack in the southern city of Kandahar that killed and wounded dozens of Afghan civilians the previous day.
Some 43 Afghan civilians were killed and 65 others were wounded when a truck bomb was remotely exploded in Kandahar city on Tuesday at dusk, the Afghan Interior Ministry said.
The attack was the worst in Afghanistan in more than a year.
"We are not responsible for the attack and we condemn it," Taliban's Qari Yousuf told Reuters. "It could be a government propaganda, it is their job to find out who did this," he said.
A Taliban field commander in neighbouring Helmand province had sent a text message hours after the blast to a Reuters reporter claiming responsibility. However, the Taliban leadership says such claims are sometimes issued without authorisation.
The explosion flattened several houses and shops in the area and set ablaze a restuarant. Rescue workers were searching for wounded people under the rubble on Wednesday.
The Kandahar bomb also shattered a relative lull in violence since last Thursday's election and the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
Reuters