D Friday, September 11, 2009 METRO 11 Afghans walk under a voter education poster Votes thrown out in Afghan election fraudSOME ballots have been excluded from the final tally in Afghanistans election. The United Nations- backed commission investigating fraud in the vote issued the order, yesterday. The August 20 poll has been increasingly marred by reports of ballot-box stuffing and suspicious tallies. A US monitoring group has said large numbers of polling stations had more than 100 per cent turnout, and President Hamid Karzais (pictured) top challenger has accused him of state-engineered fraud. All ballots from five polling stations in Paktika province should be voided because they show clear evidence of fraud, the Electoral Complaints Commission said. The commission had previously ordered an audit and recount countrywide of stations where turnout was at or above 100 per cent, or where one candidate had won with more than 95 per cent of the vote. Rescued in a dawn mission: Stephen Farrell Anger at dawn mission to save captured journalistBy ELLEN OREILLyTHE killing of a British paratrooper and an Afghan interpreter in the raid to free kidnapped Irish jour- nalist Stephen Farrell has provoked anger from former colleagues of the deceased. Senior BritishArmy officers yesterday denounced Mr Farrell for apparently ignoring Afghan police warnings not to venture into the Taliban-controlled area where he was taken hostage. The journalist, who holds joint Irish and British citizenship, was snatched with his interpreter, Sul- tan Munadi, 34, last Saturday as he reported on the aftermath of a Nato air strike in which at least 70 people were killed. One senior Army source told newspapers: When you look at the number of warnings this person had, it makes you really wonder whether it was worth the cost of a soldiers life. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown hailed the courage of the dead soldier, believed to be from 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment. But the Media Club of Afghanistan a group of reporters who work with international news outlets yesterday blamed international troops for the death of Mr Munadi. It criticised the special forces for leaving the in- terpreters body behind while retrieving the para- troopers remains. It shows a double standard between a foreign life and an Afghan life, said Fazul Rahim, an Afghan producer for CBS News. Mr Munadis body was retrieved on Wednesday through intermediaries. Died in a hail of bullets: Sultan Munadi index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html