Attacks spark chaos in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 5 — In what appeared to be a day of coordinated attacks on Afghanistan’s fragile government, President Hamid Karzai survived an assassination attempt Thursday by an Afghan security guard. A car bomb that exploded in the heart of the Afghan capital reportedly killed at least 22 people and wounded dozens.

THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT on Karzai occurred when the guard fired at his car as it was leaving the governor’s mansion in Kandahar, witnesses said. Karzai was in the southern Afghan city attending the wedding celebration of his brother.
Karzai’s American bodyguards opened fire in response to the shooting, and three people were killed, including one who was wearing an Afghan military uniform.
The governor of Kandahar, Gul Agha Sherzai, was injured, but it was unclear if he was hit by gunfire from the assailant or by shots fired afterward.
“I was just outside the gate when I heard the gunshots,” said Sherzai’s security chief, Dur Mohammed. “The Americans opened fire on three people and they were killed.”
After the attack, Karzai returned to the governor’s guesthouse, where he is staying. “As he arrived here he assured people that he was fine,” said BBC reporter Lyse Doucet, who witnessed the attack.
Sherzai was being treated at the hospital at the U.S. air base in Kandahar, said Capt. Christa D’Andrea, a U.S. spokesman at Bagram air base, the U.S. military headquarters in Afghanistan.
Earlier this year, Karzai replaced his Afghan guards with an American special forces contingent after reports of an assassination plot planned by his own security detail.
Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah said there was “no doubt” Karzai was the target of an assassination attempt.
The incident occurred shortly after the car bombing in the Afghan capital, Kabul, 300 miles to the northeast. Although it was not immediately clear whether the incidents were related, the violence came less than a week before the Sept. 11 anniversary, raising questions about whether Osama bin Laden’s terror network or a disaffected Afghan group was responsible.