Taliban militants in Afghanistan have called for a boycott of the upcoming run-off in the country's fraud-tainted presidential elections. The Taliban is threatening to use violence to disrupt the poll, scheduled for 7 November.

A second round of voting was announced earlier this week after incumbent President Hamid Karzai failed to win an outright victory in the first round after the electoral commission discarded a large number of fraudulent ballots. After the Taliban threatened violence, turnout in the first round, held in August, was less than 40 percent. Voting was marred by some 200 violent incidents blamed on the Taliban. In some cases, voters had their ink-stained fingers, proof they had voted, cut off.
 

Photo: EPA