Afghan poll front-runner Abdullah escapes assassination

KABUL, June 6 (AFP): Afghan presidential front-runner Abdullah Abdullah escaped an assassination attempt Friday 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.
"As a result of this failed attack, a number of civilians at the site were killed and wounded," a ministry statement said.
"Based on initial police information, six people were killed and 22 others were wounded in the attack."
Blood was splattered near one vehicle in the convoy which was badly charred, while medics carried a body away on a stretcher.
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.
"A few minutes ago, when we left a campaign rally our convoy was hit by a mine," Abdullah told supporters at an election rally, in quotes broadcast on Afghan television.
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.