Abdullah claims victory as Afghan poll crisis deepens

KABUL, July 8 (agencies): Presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah claimed victory on Tuesday in Afghanistan's disputed election, blaming fraud for putting him behind in preliminary results as fears rise of instability and ethnic unrest.

Abdullah told a rally of thousands of rowdy supporters in Kabul he would fight on to win the presidency, but he called for patience from loyalists who demanded he declare a "parallel government" to rule the country.

"We are proud, we respect the votes of the people, we were the winner," Abdullah said. "Without any doubt or hesitation, we will not accept a fraudulent result, not today, not tomorrow, never."

Before he spoke, a huge photograph of President Hamid Karzai was ripped down from the stage-underlining the boiling anger among Abdullah's supporters after the preliminary result in favour of poll rival Ashraf Ghani.

The election stand-off has sparked concern that protests could spiral into ethnic violence and even lead to a return to the fighting between warlords that ravaged Afghanistan during the 1992-1996 civil war.

But Abdullah called for the country to remain unified as it faces a difficult transfer of power, after Karzai's 13-year rule ends and as 50,000 US-led troops wind down their battle against Taliban insurgents.

"We don't want partition of Afghanistan, we want to preserve national unity and the dignity of Afghanistan," he said. "We don't want civil war."

Earlier, the United States issued a strong warning to Abdullah over reports that he would form a "parallel government" in defiance of the results from the run-off-which said Ghani took 56.4 percent of the vote to Abdullah's 43.5 percent.

Any power grab would cost the country international aid, Washington said.

In the eight-man first-round election on April 5, Abdullah was far ahead with 45 percent against Ghani's 31.6 percent.

Karzai, who is constitutionally barred from a third term in office, has stayed publicly neutral in the lengthy election, but Abdullah supporters accuse him of fixing the vote in Ghani's favour.

The outgoing president welcomed the result announcements and said the winner would be known only "after complaints are addressed and genuine votes separated".

He urged both candidate to cooperate with the process.

Independent Election Commission head Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani admitted on Monday there had been fraud by the security forces and senior government officials.

After last-minute talks, the two campaigns eventually failed to agree on the extent of a proposed fraud probe to check thousands of the most suspicious ballot boxes.

Ghani, who says he won fairly, is due to speak to reporters later Tuesday.

Abdullah said he had spoken to US President Barack Obama about the crisis, and that US Secretary of State John Kerry was due to visit Kabul on Friday.

 Meanwhile: A Taliban suicide bomber killed 16 people, including 10 civilians and four NATO soldiers, in an attack in eastern Afghanistan Tuesday, officials said, as foreign troops wind down their war against the insurgents.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying one of its suicide bombers had blown himself up near a NATO patrol in the province of Parwan, north of the capital Kabul.

The attack comes as Afghanistan is mired in political crisis, with a bitter row raging over allegations of fraud in the presidential runoff election.

"Four International Security Assistance Force service members died as a result of an enemy forces attack," a statement from the NATO mission said.

In line with coalition policy, it did not name the nationalities of the victims.

Parwan governor spokesman Waheed Sediqqi told AFP that ten civilians and two policemen were killed in the attack.

The insurgents said 15 US special forces soldiers were killed. They routinely make exaggerated claims after such attacks.

About 50,000 NATO troops are still deployed in Afghanistan, down from a peak of 150,000 in 2011.

NATO's combat mission will wrap up at the end of this year, with 10,000 US troops staying into next year if the new president signs a security deal with Washington.

About 3,450 coalition troops have been killed in Afghanistan since operations began in 2001 when the Taliban regime was ousted from power.

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Tuesday that any attempt to seize power in the election crisis would cost the country its international aid.