DHAKA: Militants launched a gun and suicide attack on an Afghan election commission office in Kabul on Tuesday, police said, less than two weeks before the presidential poll.

The Taleban have vowed a campaign of violence to disrupt the ballot on April 5, urging their fighters to attack polling staff, voters and security forces in the runup to election day.

Blasts were heard at an Independent Election Commission (IEC) office in the western Darulaman area of the Afghan capital, close to the home of Ashraf Ghani, who is seen as a frontrunner in the race to succeed President Hamid Karzai.

‘At around 11:35am a suicide bomber blew himself up at the gate of an IEC regional office in Darulaman, and then several other attackers entered the building,’ Kabul police spokesman Hashmat Estanakzai said, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1242 HRS, MAR 25, 2014