KABUL The US-led coalition force in Afghanistan has conceded that last week's parliamentary elections were far more violent than it first claimed and that the country was rocked by many more insurgent attacks than during last year's presidential election. The International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) said there were about 100 more attacks than the 280 or so incidents during last year's election.

The figures are an embarrassment for the international community which cited a decrease in violence as proof of the greater capacity of the Afghan army and police to guarantee security during last Saturday's election.

They come at a time of growing concern that in many areas of the country electoral fraud may have been as widespread as during last year's election and that contests in some provinces may have to be rerun.

A spokesman for Isaf said that although it had originally claimed there were fewer insurgent attacks on Saturday (Sept 18) the true figure showed an increase of more than a third over last year's vote, which at the time was the most violent day of Afghanistan's post-Taliban period.

The figures are a significant volte face for Isaf, which on the day after the election asked one news agency to publish a correction after it reported an increase in violence.

Isaf's initial claim had been ridiculed by many observers who reckoned the level of violence was far higher. The Afghanistan NGO Safety Office said it recorded 443 insurgent attacks around the country on Sept, a 56 per cent increase on the Aug 20 presidential election last year.

That level of violence also constituted a 15-fold increase in violence for the month of September, the organisation said. Isaf said the increase was a result of there being many more Afghan and international forces operating in the country compared with last year.

“More forces means more areas covered and may have led to increased insurgent-initiated attacks and increased reporting,” a spokesman said.

In addition, last year Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, banned offensive operations against the Taliban during voting, he said.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service