Srinagar, India - Voters turned out for the legislative assembly election in India's Jammu and Kashmir state Monday, despite a boycott call by separatist political parties and threats by militants.

Thousands of Indian Army troops and police provided security for voters in the 10 constituencies where the first of the seven-phase staggered elections are being held.

The response of voters was varied across constituencies. A turnout of 25 per cent was reported in Bandipora in the Kashmir valley and 60 per cent in Jammu constituency with two hours of polling remaining.

Hamburg - Adrian Sutil has dismissed speculation that he won't be driving for the

Tokyo - Suzuki Motor Corp has agreed to buy back its 3.02-per-cent stake from the US auto giant General Motors Corp (GM), the Japanese automaker said Monday.

Suzuki was expected to buy back 16.41 million shares, which are worth 22.37 billion yen (230.7 million dollars), from GM unit Controladora General Motors SA de CV through non-cross trading at the Tokyo Stock Exchange during morning trading Tuesday.

The purchase will be made at 1,363 yen per share, the company said.

The two automakers would continue joint projects such as development of hybrid cars, fuel cells and power trains.

Singapore - The Singapore government Monday recalled a statement made earlier in the day saying the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) had sent a 20-man medical team to Afghanistan as the city state's contribution to the multinational reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan.

A corrective statement from the Singapore government said the previous statement, saying an SAF team comprising medical and nursing officers was deployed, had been sent to news outlets in error.

Kabul - At least one civilian and two Afghan police were killed, while two others were injured in a suicide attack in Dand district of Kandahar province, officials said Monday.

The suicide bomber in police uniform was trying to enter into the Dand district headquarters when guards at the main gate stopped him, and he detonated the explosives, said Zulmai Ayubi, spokesman for the provincial government.

"There are no any casualties of the district officials reported but the explosion damaged the main entrance of the building," he added.

Nairobi/Goma - The Congolese army and Tutsi rebels have been involved in some of the worst clashes for a week despite rebel leader Laurent Nkunda telling a United Nations envoy that he supports peace in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN said Monday.

"Yesterday we had a lot of clashes in Riwindi (125 kilometres north of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province) and its outskirts," Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Paul Dietrich, military spokesman for the UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.