Afghan President Hamid Karzai's running mate for a historic presidential election narrowly escaped a bomb set off by Taleban guerrillas as the campaign closed on Wednesday.
But, just hours later, the president appealed to the militants to rejoin the mainstream.
"Thousands and thousands and thousands of the Taleban, they are the sons of the soil, they have every right as citizens as every other Afghan has," Karzai told a news conference. He said he was against only about 100 or so hardcore militants "who had committed atrocities".
Two of the 18 candidates for Saturday's poll said they were withdrawing in favour of Karzai. One was not considered to be very popular but the other, Sayed Ishaq Gailani, is from one of the country's best-known families.
Karzai has always been favourite to win, but Gailani's move could help him get the required 51 percent of the vote he needs to avoid a November run-off.
Explosives planted in the road went off as the convoy in which he was travelling headed from the airport to the rally site, killing two people and injuring at least three others, local officials said.
Taleban 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.
"Afghans are convinced that a popularly elected, representative president is urgently needed in order to bring an end to the violence, whether by factions or extremists, to achieve reform, disarmament, justice and the rule of law," said Jean Arnault, the special UN representative for Afghanistan.
"We share their conviction. And we think they will succeed," he told reporters. The election bust into life on Wednesday, with Uzbek candidate Abdul Rashid Dostum clambering onto a bay stallion at a Kabul rally to display his martial qualities, and supporters of Karzai distributing baseball caps emblazoned with his image.
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