Afghanistan celebrates amid attacks

AFGHANISTAN celebrated its Independence Day yesterday amid one of the bloodiest weeks in a year, with heavily-armed guerrillas killing at least nine policemen.

There were also fresh assaults on aid workers. A group of 20 gunmen raided a mine-clearing group’s compound in a province west of Kabul, beating five employees with rifle butts.

In a speech to mark Afghanistan’s 84th anniversary of independence from Britain, President Hamid Karzai urged his countrymen to take responsibility for rebuilding a nation wasted by nearly a quarter of century of fighting and dependent on foreign aid.

“It is the duty of everybody to launch a holy war to reconstruct this nation”, Karzai told a crowd of several thousand that included cabinet ministers and diplomats. “We must try harder. We must catch up with the rest of the world,” he said.

In the last week Afghanistan has been battered by an insurgent onslaught, believed to be a mix of guerrillas from the ousted Taliban regime, al-Qaida fighters and supporters of warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

This follows reports fugitive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, has improved co-ordination among his commanders, dividing Afghanistan into military areas. Last Wednesday, at least 64 people were killed.