25 killed in US raid in Afghanistan

Overall, however, the level of violence was lower than had been expected, with predicted car-bombings in cities and major attacks on polling stations failing to materialise by the close of polls at 6.00pm local time (1330 GMT).

Tight security by some 100,000 armed personnel, including more than 18,000 US-led troops and 9,000 NATO peacekeepers, is believed to have prevented some major attacks including a huge truck bombing in the southern city of Kandahar.

The 25 militants killed in the air attack were believed to be loyal to the fundamentalist Taliban regime, ousted by a US-led invasion in 2001, who had threatened to disrupt the polls along with their allies in Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda movement.