At least 40 people have been confirmed dead following a massive bomb attack in Afghanistan shortly after the first results from the country's presidential election were announced last night. Details of the attack in the southern city of Kandahar are still confused, with some reports saying it was caused by a truck bomb and others saying a number of car bombs were detonated simultaneously The blast destroyed the offices of a Japanese construction company and also damaged government offices, a wedding hall and a guesthouse used by foreigners. Elsewhere, a local official was also killed when a bomb exploded in his car in Kunduz province yesterday, while four US soldiers were killed in a bombing in the south of the country. The first batch of results from last week's election show President Hamid Karzai virtually neck-and-neck with his main challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. With 10% of the vote counted, both men had around 40% each, which could lead to a run-off vote in October if neither man secures more than 50% of the overall tally.