Pre-election attack on Karzai aide
 |  A vehicle is damaged in an attack on Afghan vice presidential candidate Ahmad Zia Massoud's convoy. |
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KABUL, Afghanistan -- A convoy carrying the running mate to Afghan President Hamid Karzai came under attack in the northeastern part of the country, just days before landmark elections.
Ahmad Zia Masood escaped unhurt Wednesday from a roadside explosion that hit the convoy in northeastern Badakhshan province, a government official said.
Masood was in Faizabad for a campaign rally ahead of Saturday's election, the first time the war-shattered country has directly voted for its president.
The governor of northern Badakhshan province was injured in the blast, Khalik Ahmed, a spokesman at the palace, told the Associated Press.
But Mutaleb Beg, a local police official, told AP one person was killed and four others were injured in the attack.
Millions of Afghans are set to go to the polls on Saturday in the first election to take place since the hardline Taliban regime was ousted in 2001.
The vote is seen as a key step in the post-September 11 U.S. campaign to bring democracy to the region.
Afghanistan has not held any form of election since the late 1960s.
The vote was delayed twice as violence wracked the nation and now tens of thousands of national and international troops are trying to keep order so Afghans can cast their vote in peace.
The president campaigned on Tuesday for the first time since an attack on him last month, where he told supporters that the vote was a turning point for the nation.
"This vote is not just to choose a president, but for peace and stability in Afghanistan," said Karzai, a close ally of U.S. President George W. Bush.
"Instead of fighting, we are campaigning for our elections. We should be proud that we have freedom at last." (Full story)
Officials hope the Taliban and its allies will be thwarted by a security effort involving a national army of more than 17,000, about 25,000 police, 18,000 U.S.-led coalition troops and a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force of over 8,000.
The campaign, which has been lacklustre so far mainly because of security concerns, has picked up in the last few days ahead of its scheduled close on Wednesday.
Eighteen candidates are running for the office of president, with the pack led by Karzai.
Only two other candidates are considered big names nationwide: the Uzbek general, Abdul Rashid Dostum, and Yunus Qanuni, the former education minister.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
