Posted on 04/27/2008 6:22:15 AM PDT by Jet Jaguar
Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped unharmed Sunday after militants attacked a high-profile military parade with rockets and gunfire, killing three people including an MP and wounding a dozen.
The extremist Taliban movement claimed responsibility for the daring attack, denying however that it was an assassination attempt on Karzai.
Bullets struck into the back of a stage where the president and Afghan leaders, including the most senior international representatives here, were seated to review the country's most important annual military parade.
There were also several large explosions, with one -- likely from a rocket-propelled grenade -- landing just in front of the platform, Health Minister Mohammad Amin Fatimie told AFP.
Bodyguards sprang to cover the president and then whisked him away as other dignitaries fell to the floor or fled, said Fatimie, who was just metres away from Karzai.
The health minister later told AFP that an MP, Fazl-Ul Rahman Samkanai, suffered severe bullet wounds to his stomach and liver and died on the operating table.
The roughly 3,000 police and troops preparing for the parade broke from their formations and fled as security guards stationed across the area returned fire.
The leader of a minority tribe who had been sitting on the stage was killed in the attack in which the gunmen appeared to be positioned in derelict buildings about 400 metres (1,300 feet) from Karzai.
About a dozen other Afghans, including a parliamentarian and several security men, were wounded, officials said.
A 10-year-old boy living in the area was also killed, apparently in return fire, they said.
A Taliban spokesman who called media to claim the attack as it was unfolding said three of his group's men were killed. He did not say how and this was not immediately confirmed by authorities.
Shortly after the incident, which was broadcast live on television, the president appeared on camera to reassure the public and announce some of the attackers had already been caught.
"Fortunately Afghan security forces quickly surrounded them. Some of them were captured," Karzai said. "Everything is calm, rest assured."
The attack erupted soon after Karzai had taken the stage following an inspection of troops and as a 21-gun salute was ringing out across the city.
Tight security was in place for Afghanistan's largest annual parade, which was celebrating 16 years since the fall of the last communist government.
The Taliban, which was in power between 1996 and 2001, said it had wanted to show it could strike at will.
"We had placed six personnel in the area. Three of our men have been killed," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed told an AFP reporter.
"Our aim was not to directly hit someone," Mujahed said when asked if the intention was to kill Karzai. "We just wanted to show to the world that we can attack anywhere we want to."
The US-led military coalition said meanwhile it had killed several insurgents in a raid Saturday on a Taliban hideout targeted at a rebel leader who was planning to attack Sunday's ceremony.
There were also civilians among the dead, a spokeswoman told AFP although she was not able to give details.
The annual Victory Day parade -- which normally includes a display of troops, tanks and aircraft -- is a show of might for the Afghan army, which was in ruins at the fall of the Taliban regime and is being rebuilt with international help, notably from the United States.
The Taliban were ousted in a US-led invasion for harbouring Al-Qaeda leaders after the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
They have regrouped to wage an insurgency that last year left 8,000 people dead, mostly rebel fighters but including 1,500 civilians.
In another attack on Sunday, a Taliban-style bomb killed three civilians in the southern province of Zabul, police said.
Karzai has survived several assassination attempts: in 2002 a guard opened fire on his vehicle in the southern city of Kandahar. In 2004, two rockets were fired at his chopper but missed.
Much to A-Pee’s chagrin.
Those peace loving mooslums at it again.
Them military parade things can get out of hand fast.
Bet Karzai would like some Blackwater dudes at his side.
Jet why this assassination attempt remind me of Sadat reset
Thinking the same.
Afghanistan - Explosions in Kabul during a military parade, Karzai evacuated
Thanks. Search is no worky.
Tight security was in place for Afghanistan's largest annual parade, which was celebrating 16 years since the fall of the last communist government.
The first statement belies the second... Nobody thought to secure those "derelict buildings about 400 meters" away?
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