KABUL, Oct. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Two people were killed and two otherswounded Wednesday as a bomb went off in a public rally when President Hamid Karzai's chief running mate Ahmad Zia Masoud was delivering his speech in northeast Afghanistan, an official confirmed.

    "The incident took place at 9:30 a.m. local time (0500 GMT) when Ahmad Zia Masoud was speaking at a gathering in Badakhshan's provincial capital Faizabad," Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told Xinhua.

    "Ahmad Zia is safe," he added.

    He said that "the country's enemies who do not want to see peace and security are behind the coward attack".

    The area had been cordoned off by the police and an investigation was underway to identify the culprits, he added.

    The incumbent President Hamid Karzai escaped a rocket attack inhis maiden election campaign in southeast Afghanistan late last month.

    The first-ever Afghan presidential poll is scheduled for Saturday. Enditem