Taliban Threaten Afghan Election, Warn Voters to Stay Away

Taliban insurgents threatened Monday to attack Afghanistan's run-off presidential election, warning voters to stay away from polling stations for fear of injury or death.

Afghans are due to go to the polls on June 14 to choose whether Ashraf Ghani or Abdullah Abdullah should succeed President Hamid Karzai.

The militants, ousted from power in Kabul by a 2001 U.S.-led invasion, threatened to attack the first round of voting on April 5 but the day passed off with no major security incidents.

In a statement in English on their website, the Taliban said their fighters "are once again fully prepared to operate against the workers and polling stations in the second phase of these counterfeit elections".

"Therefore, you (the masses) should remain far away from the polling stations on 14th June, 2014, lest you should be hurt or killed."

On Friday Ghani, a former World Bank economist, said if elected he would put his name to a long-delayed security pact with the United States that Karzai has refused to sign. Abdullah has also said he would sign.

Ghani's pledge came only days after U.S. President Barack Obama said the 32,000 American forces in Afghanistan will be scaled back to 9,800 by early 2015 and complete a full withdrawal by the end of 2016.

Ghani faces an uphill task after finishing second with 31.6 percent -- behind Abdullah with 45 percent -- in the eight-candidate first round.

The Taliban last week denounced U.S. plans to keep troops in Afghanistan until the end of 2016, threatening to wage war against the "occupation" until the very last foreign soldier pulls out.

Earlier, a suicide bomber killed three Turkish engineers and wounded another one on Monday in eastern Afghanistan, the latest attack on foreigners in the war-torn country.

It came after the U.S. and the Taliban sealed a dramatic prisoner swap that saw soldier Bowe Bergdahl released for five senior insurgent figures, raising hopes for peace as foreign forces prepare to withdraw.

"Around 7:15am, a suicide bomber detonated his explosive-packed motorbike targeting a minibus belong to Turkish engineers in Behsud district of Nangarhar province," Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, a spokesman for the provincial governor, told AFP.

"As a result of this attack, three Turkish engineers were killed and the fourth one was wounded."

Abdulzai said the victims were working on a construction project in Nangarhar and were traveling to work when their minibus were targeted. A Turkish official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the death toll and nationality of the victims.

Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, spokesman for the Nangarhar police chief, said an Afghan child was also injured.

Turkey has 459 soldiers in the NATO-led forces in Afghanistan.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attack. The Taliban, who announced their spring offensive in early May, were not immediately reachable for comment.