(MENAFN- Pajhwok Afghan News) KABUL (Pajhwok): At least 44 people were killed and 238 others wounded in violent incidents across Afghanistan on Saturday as the country held the long due Wolesi Jirga elections.
Except southern Kandahar and Ghazni provinces, the lower house elections were conducted in all other 32 provinces of the country despite Taliban warnings of attacks.
Soon after the voting began and continued into the evening, small blasts in different parts of capital Kabul left a number of people wounded.
There was a suicide blast in the limits of the 17th police district of Kabul, in which 15 people were killed and 20 others wounded.
Security incidents also happened in Paktia, Khost, Nanarhar, Kunar, Nuristan, Kapisa, Parwan, Herat, Kunduz, Zabul, Helmand, Baghlan, Badakhshan, Nimroz, Farah and some other provinces.
In Khwaja Bughra area of Kabul, two people were killed and eight others wounded in a blast.
A local representative, Hakimullah, confirmed the incident.
But Ministry of Interior (MoI) spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said no one was hurt or killed in that blast.
Residents of the 17th police district of Kabul said an explosion in Hazrat Ali Mosque in Wahdat Township also happened and caused casualties, but the MoI said the explosion caused no casualties.
An explosion was happened in Lab-i-Jar area of 11th police district of Kabul that wounded a girl. Blasts occurred in 4th and 12th police districts of Kabul but caused no casualties.
MoI spokesman, Nasrat Rahimi said there was another blast at a girls high school in Ahmad Shah Baba Mina of Kabul, but no one was hurt.
Local officials in northern Kunduz province said two people were killed and 38 others wounded when multiple mortars hit the provincial capital.
Kunduz Zonal Hospital Director Marzia Yaftali told Pajhwok Afghan News that two bodies and 38 injured people including women and children had been brought to the hospital. She said 11 of the wounded were security forces and one of the dead was a soldier.
Noorullah, a resident of Qasani area of Kunduz city, said a mortar hit a mosque in their area and injured the mosque€™s imam.
Col. Safiullah Mahzon, Kunduz deputy police chief, said that 10 mortar shells landed in Kunduz city throughout the day.
Rassoul Omar, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) head for Kunduz, told Pajhwok that Taliban attacked a polling station and killed an election officer in Kunduz city.
Elsewhere, Taliban insurgents fired on some polling stations in Musakhel and Alisher districts of southeastern Khost province, but no one was hurt, said deputy police chief Col. Sayed Ahmad Babazai. He said the voting process went normal in the two districts.
On the other hand, many explosions happened near polling stations in three districts of Nangarhar province.
Two people were killed and three others wounded when an explosion targeted voters in Khadr Khana area of Kot district of Nangarhar.
Local officials said six people were wounded when a blast targeted voters in Kama district of the province. Five people were wounded in a similar incident in Sara Rod district.
Some polling stations in Bati Kot, Khogyani, Ghanikhel, Lalpora, Momandara and Sra Rod districts of Nangarhar were closed down due to clashes between Afghan forces and militants.
In Kunar province, two people were killed and 10 others including two women and two local policemen were injured in different incidents.
A child was killed and a man wounded when a mortar fired by Taliban hit a house in Ahmadaba district of Paktia province.
Provincial police spokesman, Sardar Wali Tabasum, confirmed the incident and said the Taliban fired the mortar to disrupt the election process, but it hit a house.
Separately, one child was killed and 15 other persons injured as a result of mortar shell in the Dahraud district of central Uruzgan province.
Malak Zainullah, a senior police commander, said the Taliban fired rockets on some areas in which one child was killed and some injured.
Dr. Ziaurrahman, head of the Civil Hospital, said four children had been evacuated to the hospital as a result of the rocket attacks. One child succumbed to wounds.
In Parwan province, one child was injured during a clash in the Shaikh district.
A polling station in the Roei Ab district of northern Samangan province hit by a rocket attack but there were no casualties.
A rocket attack also took place in Farah, but according to local officials it caused no casualties.
In Nuristan€™s Bargmatal district, local election commission official Dr. Elyas and some of his fellow members were injured in a rocket attack, said former Governor Jamaluddin Badar.
In Kapesa, one person was killed and 17 others injured when a mortar shells landed on two houses in Ala Saei district.
Police Spokesman Yousufzai said one person was killed and four injured in one house while 13 persons injured in another house.
In Herat, two security forces were killed and 10 others injured in incidents of insecurity.
According to IEC officials 12 polling stations in the Kashak Kuhna, Kashak Rabat, Sangi, Kuhsan, Kurakh, Pashton Zarghon, Engil and Guzra districts.
Besides the polling stations, the Taliban targeted convoys carrying the election related materials.
Six rockets fired in Lashkargah, the capital of southern Helmand province, but there were no casualties, said Police Spokesman Abdul Salaam Afghan.
In Zabul, two children were killed and as many injured in a rocket attack in the Shah Joy district.
Eight people were killed and 54 others injured in incidents of insecurity on polling day in northern Baghlan province.
Deputy Public Health Minister Dr. Abdul Alem Ghafari said eight bodies and 54 injured had been evacuated to the hospital from different areas.
In Badakhshan, armed attacks took place in some areas but there was no casualties.
Ghor Governor Ghulam Nasir Khazei said three policemen and five uprising security personnel were killed during attacks in Tolack, Dawlatyar districts and provincial capital Ferozkoh.
In Faryab, one ANA soldier was killed and three others injured in the Almar district.
Ten civilians were injured during incidents of insecurity in Logar provinces, according to police.
In Jawzjan, two children were injured as a result of rocket attack on polling station, said Governor Maulvi Lutfullah Azizi.
The Taliban also claimed responsibility for attacks in different part of the country on poling day.
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