Afghan elections hit by multiple blasts, chaos, delays

Tehran (KNA) - According to acting Health Ministry spokesman Mohibullah Zeer, at least three people were killed and more than 30 wounded in Saturday attacks which came after the Taliban warned voters to boycott the ballot "to protect their lives." The blasts came even as around 70,000 security forces have been deployed to protect polling centers across the war-torn country. Polling began in most regions at 7 a.m. local time (0230 GMT) but most polling sites opened late after teachers employed to handle the voting process reportedly failed to show up on time. Voters waited hours for polling stations to open across the country and many remained closed more than six hours after the election officially began. Glitches with biometric voter verification devices which are being used for the first time compounded the problems as missing or incomplete voter registration lists hit the voting process.