Suicide Bombing At Polling Station In Afghanistan

The Afghan Interior Ministry announced the deployment of 50,000 troops to ensure security for the polling process. (Picture: PA)

Police in Afghanistan say a suicide bomber blew himself up in front of a polling station in Kabul.

It's reported to have taken place in a school in the northern Kabul neighbourhood of Khair Khana.

A doctor treating the wounded said three people were killed and six wounded.

Two further explosions were also reported in Kabul hours after the parliamentary election polls opened in Afghanistan.

It follows a separate incident where a "sticky bomb" was placed under the vehicle of an intelligence official exploded in the Karte Se neighbourhood in the west of the capital, according to a police spokesperson. There were no immediate reports of injuries following that incident.

Security officials are on high alert as both Islamic State and the Taliban have vowed to disrupt polling.

More than 50,000 Afghan security forces have been deployed throughout the country to protect 21,000 polling stations.

Earlier, a small explosion frightened voters queuing at a polling station in the Qarabagh neighbourhood, north of Kabul, to cast their ballot in the first parliamentary elections since 2010.

There were no injuries in the first act of violence to be reported since polls opened at 7am local time on Saturday.

Around 5,500 schools are thought to be used for the elections with 8.8 million Afghans registered to vote. 

Wasima Badghisy, a commission member, called voters "very, very brave" and said a turnout of five million would be a success.

In the run-up to the elections, two candidates were killed while polling in Kandahar was delayed for a week after a rogue guard gunned down the powerful provincial police chief.

Commission deputy spokesman Aziz Ismaili said no results will be released before mid-November and final results will not be out until later in December.