Campaign for Afghan election ends

The killing late on Thursday further raised security fears ahead of tomorrow's polls, the next phase in international efforts to bring democracy to the war-shattered country.

Armed men forced candidate Abdul Hadi out of his house in Hazarjoft, a district in the restive southern province of Helmand, and gunned him down, provincial spokesman Mohammed Wali told AFP.

"It is the work of the enemies of Afghanistan," Wali said.

Afghan officials frequently use this term to refer to insurgents from the Taliban regime, which was ousted by US-led forces and Afghan militias in late 2001.

Seven candidates and five electoral workers have now died in political violence since early July, when around 5,800 men and women signed up to run for the elections.

In other violence before the poll, the US military said its forces backed by warplanes and helicopter gunships killed four suspected militants after a roadside bomb wounded an American soldier in a neighbouring province.

A joint Afghan-US patrol was hit by the improvised bomb and then by small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades on Wednesday in Tarin Kowt, a district in Uruzgan province, a US statement said.

The end of campaigning meant all campaign rallies, TV adverts and all other forms of electioneering were banned in the final 48 hours before the vote.

More than 5,700 candidates are competing for 249 parliamentary seats as well as places on dozens of provincial councils.

"The reason for the silence period is to allow voters to very carefully consider their choices without being distracted by campaigning," said Bronwyn Curran, spokeswoman for the joint UN-Afghan election management team.

More than 12 million Afghans are eligible to vote in the elections, which come nearly one year after Hamid Karzai won the country's first presidential poll.