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Afghans braved deadly rocket and bomb attacks to vote for a new parliament on Saturday, with the war-weary nation on full security alert after the Taliban threatened to derail the high-stakes election.

At least six people were killed in attacks and the UN and US officials warned that security and fraud were major concerns for the second parliamentary vote since the US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime in 2001.

Insurgents fired rockets in several cities and set off bombs at a polling station and alongside a convoy carrying the governor of Kandahar, the Taliban heartland in the south, but officials said several attacks had been foiled.

Men and women queued patiently to vote at separate polling stations, dressed in traditional clothes and burqas, determined to cast their ballot despite the security headaches and fears of retribution.

Voting got off to a slow start overall in what is seen as a key test for the credibility of President Hamid Karzai's corruption-tainted rule and the success of the US-led campaign against an intensifying Taliban insurgency.

"I want to show that I am not afraid of the Taliban," said Mohammad Zaman, 50, who was first in line to vote in a southern suburb of Kabul.

Tens of thousands of Afghan and US-led NATO forces are involved in a massive security operation to guard against attack after the Taliban urged a boycott and warned it would attack anyone involved in the vote.

Karzai -- whose own re-election last year was mired in massive fraud -- called on people to vote to take their country "forward to a better future" after 30 years of war.

"We do hope there will be a high voter turnout, that people will come out and vote for the person, man or woman, of their choice without pressure."

More than 2,500 candidates are contesting 249 seats in the lower house of parliament, or Wolesi Jirga, a key step in a US-led process to bring democracy to the impoverished and conservative Muslim country.

Among them are 406 women contesting 68 seats reserved for them under legislation designed to better their rights.

The vote comes at a pivotal time for 144,000 US-led NATO troops trying to reverse the insurgency and allow American troops to start leaving next year.

The Independent Election Commission said 92 percent of planned polling centres had opened, although more than 1,000 were already shuttered because of insecurity.

"Turnout so far has been very good. People are eagerly going to the polling stations," commission chief Fazil Ahmad Manawi told reporters. "So far there has not been a major incident to derail the election."

The United Nations and United States concede the vote will be flawed, but highlight the fact that it was taking place at all and said they expected it to be better than last year's presidential vote.

"We have to put it into context and hoping that it will not be a bad day, but security is a concern," UN envoy Staffan de Mistura told Al Jazeera television.

Rocket attacks killed six people in eastern provinces Kunar and Nangarhar, and Takhar in the north, local officials said.

Insurgents also fired a rocket near NATO headquarters in Kabul shortly before polls opened at 0230 GMT, but no casualties or damage were reported.

Toryalai Wesa, the governor of Kandahar province said he survived a roadside bomb attack while visiting polling centres in the volatile region.

A bomb attack at a polling centre in the eastern city of Khost -- not far from the Pakistan border -- wounded three people, while 16 Afghan security personnel were wounded in clashes in the north, local officials said.

Afghan authorities described security as better than expected and said that several planned attacks had been thwarted.

While much campaigning has been personality driven, those who did come to vote early said lawlessness and corruption were their main concerns.

Voters have to to dip their finger in indelible ink in an effort to minimise fraud but Election Complaints Commission official Ahmad Zia Rafat said some cases of the ink coming off had been registered and other complaints lodged.

Around 115,000 Afghan soldiers and police have been deployed to protect the poll, while NATO has said its entire contingent is on standby.

Turnout among the 10.5 million electorate -- a paltry 30 percent last year -- will be key. Experts believe that violence, expectations of fraud, vested interests and a voting process that favours the status quo will keep it low.

And with politics rooted in tribalism and power concentrated in the hands of Karzai, the election results will little alter the nature of governance.

After polling stations close at 4 pm (1130 GMT), the laborious process of counting will begin but final results are not due until October 31.

AFP