US Secretary of State John Kerry scrambled to produce a deal to end Afghanistan’s election crisis, meeting for the second day with the country’s two presidential candidates and incumbent President Hamid Karzai.

The deadlock over the June 14 election run-off between the leading contenders, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, has raised concerns in Washington about a smooth transition of power in Afghanistan just as US troops are withdrawing.

Kerry and his aides met throughout the night, following talks on Friday with both Abdullah and Ghani, as well as with Karzai and UN special envoy to Afghanistan Jan Kubis.

He met again with Abdullah and Ghani at the US compound yesterday and was also set to meet Karzai at the presidential palace.

Preliminary results from the runoff vote put Ghani, a former World Bank official, in the lead by almost one million votes. Abdullah rejected the result, claiming widespread fraud and calling the outcome a “coup” against the Afghan people.

The US has urged the Independent Electoral Commission not to release the final vote tally until a thorough review of the votes. It also urged the camps of both Ghani and Abdullah not to declare victory.

As talks unfolded behind closed doors, the rival camps were tight-lipped on the progress.

Their vehicle was targeted by a roadside bomb freshly planted by the Taliban

Meanwhile, eight civilians including five women were killed when a roadside bomb blew up their vehicle in southern Afghanistan yesterday.

The United Nations said this week that the Afghan war was inflicting an increasingly devastating toll on civilians, with the number of casualties rising by almost a quarter in the first half of this year.

“They were travelling from Pajwai district to Kandahar city to visit a doctor and do some shopping for the upcoming Eid al-Fitr (Muslim holiday),” said Dawa Khan Minapal, a spokesman for provincial governor.

“Their vehicle was targeted by a roadside bomb freshly planted by the Taliban.”

He added: “Their dead bodies are still in the area and police have already transferred two wounded children from the incident to a provincial hospital”.

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