07 October 2004	Thursday	21 Shaban 1425

KABUL, Oct 6: Afghan President Hamid Karzai's running mate for Saturday's historic presidential poll escaped unhurt on Wednesday when a bomb set off by Taliban guerillas narrowly missed his car as he headed for an election meeting.

It was the last day of campaigning for the election and one of the 18 candidates announced he was withdrawing in favour of Karzai. But he was not considered to have a wide following and the move is unlikely to have any marked effect on the vote.

Abdul Hasseb Aryan told Reuters he was bowing to the people's will in withdrawing from the contest. Vice Presidential candidate Ahmad Zia Masood, the brother of assassinated resistance hero Ahmad Shah Masood, was attacked in Faizabad, the capital of mountainous Badakhshan province in the remote northeast, where he had gone for a campaign rally.

Explosives planted in the road went off when the convoy in which he was travelling headed from the airport to the rally site, killing one person and injuring at least two, said Saeed Alam Tohib, the head of provincial security.

One of the injured was Sayed Ikramuddin, a former governor of Badakhshan and a close Karzai ally. Masood was unhurt. Taliban official Mullah Dadullah claimed responsibility for the attack. "It was a remote-controlled bomb planted on a road side. But Masood's car missed it because it went off late," he told Reuters in a telephone call.

Badakhshan is far from the Taliban stronghold in the south of Afghanistan. Although the attack appeared to demonstrate a far-flung capability of the guerillas, there have been relatively few attacks outside the south in recent weeks.

Addressing a rally of about 4,000 people, Karzai said he would be happier if someone voted for one of his opponents rather than not vote at all. -Reuters