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Afghan president survives assassination bid

The Taliban claims responsibility for attack, saying 3 members were killed

	Afghan President Hamid Karzai, left, and Abdul Rahim Wardak, Afghanistan's defense minister, sit on vehicles during a military parade in Kabul on Sunday. President Karzai is safe after an assassination attempt during the ceremony, according a defense ministry spokesman. The attack was claimed by the Taliban.  View related photos
AFP/Getty Images

KABUL,
Afghanistan - Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped unhurt on Sunday
after an assassination attempt by Taliban fighters who fired guns and
rockets at an official celebration in the capital, Kabul.

Karzai, government
ministers, former warlords, diplomats and the military top brass ducked
for cover after gunfire sounded at the celebration to mark the 16th
anniversary of the fall of the Afghan communist government to the
mujahideen.

Karzai later appeared on state television.

“Today,
the enemies of Afghanistan, the enemies of Afghanistan’s security and
progress tried to disrupt the ceremony and cause disorder and terror,”
Karzai said.

“Fortunately, Afghanistan’s military forces surrounded them quickly and arrested some of the suspects,” he said.

Three fighters killed?
The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said three of its fighters were killed.

British ambassador Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles was standing on the front row of the dais alongside the U.S. envoy to Kabul.

“It
was coming to the end of the 21-gun salute. I saw an explosion and a
puff of dust to the left of the parade and then heard the crackle of
small arms fire from all directions,” he told Reuters.

“After some hesitation, my bodyguard frog-marched me away.”

All
cabinet members and foreign diplomats present at the parade along with
General Dan McNeill, U.S. commander of international forces in
Afghanistan, were safe and well, spokesmen said.

But one person was killed and 11 wounded, including a member of parliament, a Defense Ministry spokesman said.

Taliban attackers killed
The
Taliban firing appeared to come from a building a few hundred yards
from the site, a road which is blocked off for official parades with a
dais on one side, close to the presidential palace.

“Three
of our attackers have been killed and three managed to escape. Small
arms and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades) were used in the attack,”
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters from an undisclosed
location.

The attack disproved Afghan government and NATO assertions that the Taliban insurgency had been weakened, he said.

“Afghan
and NATO authorities this year repeatedly said the Taliban are on the
verge of annihilation ... Now it is has been proved to them the Taliban
not only have the ability to operate in the provinces, but even in
Kabul,” said Mujahid.

“Karzai and his cabinet can’t be safe from Taliban attacks.”

Immediately
after the attack, bandsmen in full dress uniform mingled with ordinary
soldiers trying to get out of the line of fire. Other soldiers and
Karzai’s bodyguards, dressed in black, took up firing positions in
roads near the parade ground.

Several assassination attempts
Karzai
has survived several assassination attempts since he came to power
after U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001 for
failing to hand over al-Qaida leaders behind the September 11 attacks
on the United States.

But
Taliban insurgents regrouped and relaunched their insurgency two years
ago and now fight daily battles with Afghan and foreign troops mainly
in the south and east and have launched scores of suicide attacks
throughout the country.

The
soft-spoken president has repeatedly offered to hold peace talks with
the Taliban, but the hardline Islamist militants have said they will
fight on till they topple Karzai and drive out the more than 50,000
foreign troops from Afghanistan.

Karzai’s
government is reliant on foreign aid and Western military support as it
tries to bring peace and rebuild a country shattered by nearly 30 years
of war.

Facing
presidential elections next year, Karzai is looking increasingly
besieged as frustration grows among both Afghans and his foreign
backers over his failure to crack down on rampant corruption, appoint
capable administrators and help bring security to the country.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.