Investigation begins into twin attacks on Karzai government

<br>KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) _ Afghan police and intelligence questioned suspects Friday in the assassination attempt against President Hamid Karzai and a bloody car bombing in Kabul _ the worst day

Friday, September 6th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) _ Afghan police and intelligence questioned suspects Friday in the assassination attempt against President Hamid Karzai and a bloody car bombing in Kabul _ the worst day of violence since the Taliban was driven from power.

Police said 26 people were killed and 150 wounded in a car bomb Thursday in Kabul. Hours later, a security guard who had been hired to protect the local governor's mansion fired his rifle at Karzai, missing him by inches in the southern city of Kandahar, the former stronghold of the Taliban.

The attacks were the most serious challenge yet to Karzai's government, which is struggling to establish stability in a country divided among feuding warlords, harried by remnants of the Taliban regime and its al-Qaida terrorist allies, and left in financial ruins by decades of bloodshed.

The would-be assassin, dressed in a security uniform, emerged from the crowd greeting Karzai as he left the governor's palace and fired into the president's car. Karzai had been told shortly before about the devastating bomb in Kabul.

Karzai's American bodyguards killed the gunman and two other men, both carrying weapons. One was an Afghan bodyguard for Karzai and the second was a bystander, officials said Friday.

The governor of Kandahar, Gul Agha Sherzai, was grazed in the neck by the gunman's bullet. He was treated and released Thursday from the medical unit of the U.S. air base south of the city.

It was not immediately clear if the two incidents were coordinated, or who was behind either attack. Afghan officials speculated it could have been Taliban or al-Qaida fugitives or former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who is purportedly trying to forge a new alliance with both groups.

Officials said the gunman was from the Pashtun heartland of southern Afghanistan, where resentment has been growing against U.S. operations to root out remaining Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.

Kandahar provincial spokesman Khalid Pashtoon said an initial investigation showed the suspect was from Helmand province. He did not give the man's name. The British Broadcasting Corp. identified the assailant as Abdul Rahman from Helmand.

Pashtoon said the man had been hired four days ago as a security guard for the governor's mansion, which is under renovation.

``The people guarding this place were hired to protect the palace, not us. Maybe it's our big mistake,'' he said.

Preliminary investigations indicate that Taliban leaders may be behind the incident, Pashtoon said without disclosing specifics. U.S. authorities will likely be asked to join the investigation, he said.

In Kabul, police said Friday that two suspects were detained for questioning after they were linked to the taxi concealing the massive explosive that detonated in a congested market area around the Information Ministry.

``Everybody is angry with al-Qaida,'' said 29-year-old Mul Tan, who was driving a truck at the site which workers were filling with debris. ``This is not a military site. Look at all these shops. They wanted to kill all these people.''

High on a hill overlooking Kabul, a father helped bury his dead son _ a moneychanger who died of wounds overnight at Wazir Akbar Khan hospital.

``I had two sons before, now I only have one,'' Shah Mohammad said, weeping quietly as a dozen men removed their turbans, stretching them under the still-bloody body to lower it into a fresh, rocky grave.

On Friday, international peacekeepers wearing flak jackets moved through the city in small convoys of armored personnel carriers and jeeps, stopping at intersections to inspect passing cars.

Afghan police and soldiers armed with assault rifles erected roadblocks all across Kabul. They stopped cars and taxis, peering into back seats and trunks to look for explosives or anything deemed suspicious. Many streets were blocked off altogether with troops waving back lines of traffic.

Karzai flew back to Kabul Friday to keep an appointment with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, who was in Afghanistan to discuss helping the fledging Afghan army with weapons, supplies and training, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported.

The trip to Kabul is the first post-Soviet visit by a Russian defense minister to Afghanistan, a country the Soviet Union occupied for 10 years. The Soviets withdrew their troops in 1989.

On Friday, Kandahar residents expressed anger and dismay over the assassination attempt.

``We condemn this action. If we lose Karzai or the governor, this would be a terrible thing for Afghanistan. We would go back to war,'' said Abdul Wali Wafa, 28, who runs a fabric shop on the same street as the governor's palace.

Others said they continue to fear attacks by anti-government forces.

``If (the president) had died, our nation would face a huge loss,'' said 42-year-old teacher Ali Ahmed Fazali. ``We have no one who unites this country except Karzai.''