Posted on 09/08/2002 2:42:02 PM PDT by knighthawk
AFTER praying at the hilltop grave of a legendary anti-Taliban commander slain by a suicide bomber last year, President Hamid Karzai yesterday vowed to fight terrorism despite an attempt on his own life two days ago.
President Karzai flew by helicopter through northern Afghanistan's rocky Panjshir Valley to pay his respects at the tomb of Ahmed Shah Massood, who was mortally wounded in a September 9 suicide bombing blamed on Osama bin Laden.
"We will continue to fight. We will continue to go and fulfil the objectives and desires of the man who is lying buried under the ground here," Mr Karzai said.
Mr Karzai has been moving around under a phalanx of US and Afghan bodyguards since a governor's security guard tried to gun him down Thursday in the southern city of Kandahar.
Some 17 people have been detained for questioning. All served as guards for the provincial governor, who was also wounded in the shooting.
Security has also been stepped up in the capital following a car bombing Thursday that left 30 people dead and dozens more wounded.
In Kabul yesterday international peacekeepers and Afghan troops were out on the streets in force, stopping and searching vehicles at checkpoints across the city.
Two men were arrested in connection with Thursday's bombing, but one has been released, Interior Ministry official Ali Shah said.
Authorities earlier said both arrests were linked to the taxi in which the bomb exploded, but Mr Shah declined to give details.
Speaking in Bazarak, Mr Karzai said more terrorist attacks were likely – not only in Afghanistan, but in the rest of the world.
"It's part of our life. They're doing it everywhere.," he said.
Mr Karzai yesterday said that he'd been "reckless" about his personal safety recently but now he was taking few chances.
Several heavily-armed US bodyguards walked alongside the President as he arrived at a hotel conference room in Kabul for a two-day seminar in tribute of Mr Massood, the military leader of anti-Taliban forces.
Meanwhile the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is trying to repatriate Afghan refugees as conditions in camps worsen and the assassination attempt causes uncertainty.
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