One Killed at Polling Station in East Libya

One person was killed on Saturday and another was wounded when unknown gunmen opened fire near a polling station in Libya's restive east, an official told Agence France Presse.

The attack took place in the city of Ajdabiya, where unrest had already disrupted voting in the country's first free national ballot in decades, after the ouster of Dictator Moammar Gadhafi last year.

A depot in Ajdabiya containing electoral material was torched earlier this week, according to an official in Benghazi, the cradle of the uprising that toppled Gadhafi.

The head of the electoral commission, Nouri al-Abbar, said acts of sabotage, mostly in the east, had prevented 101 polling stations from opening, with voting under way in 1,453 out of 1,554 centers.

But he said later that 98 percent of the polling stations were operating normally.

By 1400 GMT, 1.2 million of the 2.8-million-strong electorate had voted, Abbar said.

Polling stations began closing at 1800 GMT in Tripoli and Benghazi, as scheduled, according to AFP reporters.

Deputy interior minister Omar al-Khadrawi had said earlier that problems in the east were resolved.

"The situation in the east is now under control," he said, adding that polling was under way in all electoral districts.

Preliminary results are due to be announced on Monday or Tuesday, according to the electoral commission.