Abdullah claims victory in Afghan poll

AFGHAN presidential candidate A bdullah A bdullah has told thousands of supporters he plans to declare victory as he claimed massive fraud was responsible for preliminary results putting his rival ahead.

The US has warned both camps against trying to seize power, saying inter-national financial and security support is at stake.

The turmoil came as violence escalated around the country. A suicide bomber struck A fghan and foreign forces in the eastern province of Parwan, killing at least 16 people.

Mr A bdullah said he received calls from US president Barack Obama and secretary of state John Kerry, and he was told Mr Kerry would fly to the A fghan capital on Friday to help defuse the crisis.

State Department officials with Mr Kerry in Beijing declined to comment on his travel plans.

Mr A bdullah told his supporters that the results of the election were fraudulent, but asked them to give him a few more days to negotiate.

He said: “We denounce and do not accept the results of the fraudulent vote. I assure you people of A fghanistan that I will sacrifice for you, but I will never accept a fraudulent government. We announce that only the government elected through clean votes will come to power.”

The A fghan Independent Election Commission released preliminar y election results on Monday showing former finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai well in the lead for the presidency but said no winner could be declared because millions of ballots were being audited for fraud.

The election commission acknowledged that vote rigging had occurred and said ballots from about 7,000 more of the nearly 23,000 polling stations would be audited.