The Afghan intelligence – National Directorate of Security (NDS) said Thursday that the Afghan security forces arrested foiled 262 suicide attacks aimed at disrupting the elections.

NDS officials told reporters that the Afghan security forces arrested 262 suicide bombers during the military operations over the past one month. 

Afghan security forces also discovered and seized 65 vehicles packed with explosives, NDS officials said.

According to the NDS officials, militant groups including the Taliban group, Haqqani Network and Jindullah militants group were looking to disrupt the elections.

The officials also added that foreign spy agencies also attempted to disrupt the elections, however the Afghan security forces managed to successful ensure security due to increased cooperation and coordination among the security institutions, and cooperation of the Afghan people with the security forces.

Despite the security threats, the participation of the voters was higher and over 7 million voters participated in presidential and provincial council elections.

The anti-government armed militant groups attempted to carry out numerous attacks to disrupt the elections.

According to the defense officials, militants carried out 690 attacks across the country during the presidential and provincial council elections on Saturday.

Defense ministry spokesman, Gen. Zahir Azimi said Saturday that the attacks by militants included direct fire, rocket attacks, improvised explosive device (IED) attacks and suicide attacks.