Afghan poll media blackout urged 阿富汗新闻报道暂封闭

 Afghanistan has called on domestic and foreign media not to cover any violence on the day of the presidential election in case such reports scare away voters.

阿富汗呼吁国内国外媒体不要报道总统选举当天的任何暴力事件以免吓跑投票人。

Afghanistan's media has flourished in the last eight years

The government urged a media blackout（灯火管制，暂时意识的丧失） on any attacks from 0600 to 2000 during polling on Thursday and asked reporters to avoid the scene of such incidents.

Human-rights activists and journalists condemned the move.

It came after nearly 20 people died in attacks across the country, including a suicide blast in Kabul.

Thursday's vote will be Afghanistan's second presidential election since the US-led invasion in 2001 toppled the Taliban regime.

Hamid Karzai is tipped to be re-elected president, although correspondents say he could face a run-off（决定性竞赛） against one of his strongest challengers, ex-Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. Several dozen candidates are in the race.

'Prevent exaggerating'

The foreign ministry said in a statement on Tuesday: "All domestic and international media agencies are requested to refrain（忍住） from broadcasting any incident of violence during the election process from 6am to 8pm on 20 August."

The interior ministry requested "all respected mass media not to enter the scene of any terrorist incident such as suicide bombings, explosions or rocket attacks, which causes destruction of initial evidence for investigation".

Siamak Herawi, a spokesman for President Karzai, said: "This decision will control the negative impact of the media. If something happens, this will prevent them from exaggerating it, so that people will not be frightened to come out and vote."

But journalists and activists said Afghans had a right to know about the security threats they faced.

Rahimullah Samander, head of the Afghan Independent Journalists' Association, told Reuters news agency: "We condemn such moves to deprive（剥夺） people from accessing news."

The New York-based organisation Human Rights Watch said: "An attempt to censor（检查） the reporting of violence is an unreasonable violation of press freedoms."

The move came after militants acted on their threats to disrupt election week, despite heightened security ahead of polling day.

A suicide car bomb in the Afghan capital Kabul targeted a convoy（护卫，警卫） of Western troops on Tuesday, killing 10 people and injuring more than 50.

A Nato soldier and nine Afghans, including two UN staff, died in the explosion, the Nato-led force said. The Taliban claimed responsibility.

In other attacks on Tuesday:

• A rocket was fired into the presidential compound in Kabul

• Two US soldiers died in a roadside bomb in the east of the country

• In the usually peaceful north, an election candidate was shot dead in Jowzjan province, and three poll workers were killed in Badakhshan when their car hit a bomb

• Two civilians and three Afghan soldiers died when a suicide bomber on foot blew himself up in southern Uruzgan province