kabul:
The Taliban kidnapped an Afghan parliamentary candidate today and were blamed for snatching another 18 election workers, as President Hamid Karzai warned of "irregularities" in the weekend poll.
The hardline Islamist militia, which has been fighting an insurgency for nine years since being ousted from power, has threatened attacks to disrupt tomorrow's poll and called a boycott, putting security forces on high alert.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for snatching Abdul Rahman Hayat, a candidate from Lagman province, and an electoral official also blamed the other abductions on the Taliban, who have already killed three candidates.
"We have kidnapped Hayatullah Hayat," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a text message to an AFP reporter.
The insurgents were also blamed for the kidnapping yesterday of 18 electoral officials and campaign workers in northwestern Baghdis province.
More than 2,500 candidates are standing for 249 seats in the lower house of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga, in the election.
At his palace in Kabul, Karzai told reporters: "In Afghanistan under the circumstances we must expect that there'll be irregularities, there'll be problems and there'll be allegations as well.