Troops under fire prior to Afghan presidential election

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As Thursday's presidential election nears, the security situation in Afghanistan has become a major concern.

The increasing death toll among US and UK forces has brought doubt over whether the impending election can be safe.

With the election on Thursday, major candidates are pushing ahead with their campaigns but so are the terrorists.

The Taliban have staged a series of attacks prior to the vote, including a suicide bomb outside the NATO-headquarters in Kabul, which killed 7 and wounded nearly 100.

US and UK troops have suffered greatly in recent days. Taliban insurgents aiming to undermine the election, have been firing mortar shells at US Marines.

Meanwhile, UK forces have just reported 3 more casualties in southern Afghanistan, bringing the country's military death toll to 204 since operations began in 2001.

Sergeant Scott Roxborough, Mercian Regiment, said, "When there's a death it's not a good thing but unfortunately they have to carry on with the job, it's not a nice thing, nobody wants to deal with it, you know, but everyone deals with it in their own way."