Karzai escapes deadly parade attack

KABUL—Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped unharmed Sunday after militants attacked a high-profile military parade with explosions and gunfire, killing at least one and wounding 11 including legislators. The extremist Taliban movement claimed the attack, denying however it was an assassination attempt on Karzai, and said three of its men were killed. This was not immediately confirmed by security officials.
Bullets apparently from sniper fire ricocheted off the top of a stage where the president and other officials had gathered, a witness told reporters. Karzai and dozens of assembled cabinet members, ambassadors, US military commanders slammed to the floor or were whisked out but they were unharmed, officials said.
Bodyguards immediately surrounded Karzai while others shouted to the crowd, “Don’t run, you’ll be hit,” a reporter at the scene said. Karzai sped off in a motorcade and the gunfire continued for around 15 minutes. A tribal chief in the crowd was killed and 11 other people wounded, Afghan defence ministry spokesman General Mohammad Zahir Azimi told .
“Two or three parliament members have been wounded,” he said, citing reports from hospitals. The president appeared on television for a live address shortly after the incident, assuring the public and saying some of the attackers had been caught. “Fortunately Afghan security forces quickly surrounded them,” Karzai said. “Some of them were captured.”
“Everything is calm, rest assured,” he said. In a separate e-mailed statement, he said he had immediately ordered authorities to “seriously and urgently” investigate what had happened.
He “condemned this incident and called on people to keep law and order in the city.” “The army and police forces are maintaining security in the city and the situation is under control,” the statement said, confirming no dignitaries were harmed.
The attack erupted 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 communist government.
The insurgent Taliban movement, which was in power between 1996 and 2001, said it had carried out the attack to show its ability to strike at will. “We fired rockets at the scene of the celebration,” a spokesman for the insurgent group, Zabihullah Mujahed, told.
“We had placed six personnel in the area,” he said. “Three of our men have been killed.” He did not immediately say how they died but an AFP reporter at the scene said there was an exchange of fire, apparently between the attackers and troops. “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 Taliban are now waging a deadly insurgency against the US-backed government and its army along with thousands of foreign troops in the country trying to restore security. The fighting last year left 8,000 people dead, most of them rebel fighters.
Some of the men involved in an attack on a military parade in Kabul Sunday have been arrested, President Hamid Karzai said in a live television address soon after the incident in which he was unharmed. “Fortunately Afghan security forces quickly surrounded them,” Karzai said. “Some of them were captured.” “Everything is calm, rest assured,” he said.—Agencies