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Karzai escapes deadly parade attack

MP among 3 killed, Taliban claim responsibility

AFP, Kabul
Afghan President Hamid Karzai escaped unharmed yesterday 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 1 O-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 tne 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 govem-rnent.
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.”