KABUL, Afghanistan - Hamid Karzai was assured today of a majority in Afghanistan's election to become its first democratically chosen president, and a top foreign envoy said the poll reflected the will of the people.

With nearly 95 percent of ballots counted, Karzai already has more than half the total estimated 8.1 million votes cast - enough to avoid a runoff, even if all the remaining votes go to his 17 opponents.

But he has yet to be declared the winner as a panel of foreign experts was still reviewing allegations of electoral fraud leveled by other candidates. The panel does not expect to finalize its report until the end of the week, said Craig Jenness, a Canadian lawyer on the panel.

The joint U.N.-Afghan electoral commission has said it will not announce the official results of the Oct. 9 ballot until the fraud investigations are complete.

The top European envoy to Afghanistan said today that although there were irregularities, it was not serious enough to change the outcome.

CAIRO, Egypt - A Palestinian angered by Israeli-Palestinian violence plotted and then died in the nearly simultaneous car bombings of a Sinai hotel and tourist camp that killed at least 34 people this month, the Egyptian government said today in announcing the arrests of five Egyptians.Two other suspects remained at large, the Interior Ministry said.The Taba Hilton was heavily damaged in the worst of the blasts. Two other car bombs exploded at bungalow campgrounds in nearby Ras Shitan, also in the Sinai Peninsula. The resorts were packed with Israeli tourists who had traveled to the Sinai during a Jewish holiday.The government identified the mastermind of the attacks as Ayad Said Salah, a Palestinian who had lived in the Sinai and who died in the Oct. 7 explosion at the hotel, along with a fellow plotter, Egyptian Suleiman Ahmed Saleh Flayfil. The pair, identified through DNA testing, were trying to leave the scene but their timed explosives detonated prematurely, the statement said.Two other suspects were said to be at large: Mohamed Ahmed Saleh Flayfil, brother of Suleiman Flayfil, and Hammad Gaman Gomah. Mohamed Flayfil was accused of carrying out the attack on one of the campgrounds and Gomah was accused of carrying out the third bombing.Police had arrested five suspects who had lesser roles, including obtaining explosives and the cars used in the attacks, the ministry said.