KABUL,  (Reuters) – A suicide bomber rammed an  explosive-laden car into a NATO convoy in the Afghan capital yesterday, killing at least eight people in a wave of violence  two days before an election the Taliban has vowed to disrupt.

Rockets also hit Kabul, several rural polling stations were  attacked, a provincial council candidate was gunned down and  three election workers were killed by a bomb in violence ahead  of tomorrow’s vote.

Incumbent Hamid Karzai is seeking re-election in the second  presidential ballot since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, and  a credible result is vital for the country’s success in  attracting  investment and development aid.

Afghan officials and NATO-led forces said more than 50  people were wounded by Tuesday’s car bombing, the second  massive strike of its kind in four days after months that had  seen no major attacks penetrate the usually secure capital. One NATO service member and two Afghans working for the  United Nations were among the dead, the rest Afghan civilians.      Thick black smoke poured from the scene and police held  back onlookers as the wounded were ferried away in ambulances  and pickup trucks.

“I saw wounded people and dead people everywhere,” said a  shopkeeper named Sawad. “I helped some people to ambulances;  their clothes were covered in blood stains.”

In a statement, Karzai said such attacks would not deter  Afghans, who would vote “despite the efforts of the enemies and  will show their opposition to their barbaric acts”.

Officials worry Taliban threats and attacks will spoil the  turnout, and yesterday the Afghan Security Council issued a  statement requesting Afghan and Western media to refrain from  reporting violence on election day, an edict likely to be  ignored by the free-wheeling media that has emerged in recent  years.

Polls show Karzai likely to win tomorrow’s vote, but  suggest he could fall just short of the outright majority  needed to avoid a second round run-off in October. Election campaigning officially ended at midnight after a  final day of hectic rallies in support of Karzai and his main  rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.

Despite the violence, Kai Eide, the U.N. special envoy for  Afghanistan, said he expected the vote would be a success.

“I’m not trying to hide that there have been  irregularities, but my overall assesment is that this has been  a success for the Afghan people,” he told a news conference. Abdullah, an urbane eye doctor, has run an energetic  campaign, seeking to garner support from beyond his base in the  mainly ethnic Tajik north. Recent polls give Karzai about 45  percent of the vote to 25 percent for Abdullah.

The president, meanwhile, has relied on endorsements from  ex-militia leaders such as Uzbek General Abdul Rashid Dostum,  raising alarm among international donors worried that warlords  could return to power in a country they dominated for decades.