No problem says Karzai after failed murder bid
He said they were the acts of individual terrorists, not a threat to his government.
Afghan police and intelligence questioned suspects following the failed assassination in Kandahar and the car bombing in Kabul a few hours earlier that killed 26 people and wounded 150 the worst day of violence since the Taliban was driven from power. Fourteen people were arrested in Kandahar.
The attacks were seen by many as a serious challenge to Karzai's struggle 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.
But Karzai minimised the importance of the two attacks.
"These incidents do not indicate any problems," Karzai said in Kabul. "These are incidents done by terrorists in an isolated manner. This means they are no longer capable of mobilising as groups so they act as individuals."
Nevertheless, Karzai said Afghanistan must improve its security.
"We have a long way to go to bring total technical security to the country," he said. "So it is a job that we have to do in cooperation with the rest of the world."
Asked about the bid on his life, Karzai said: "I don't take it seriously at all. I'm more concerned about the loss of life yesterday in Kabul."
The would-be assassin, dressed in a security uniform, emerged from the crowd greeting Karzai as he left the governor's palace and fired on 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.
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 US operations in the region against remaining Taliban fighters and the al-Qaida terrorist network.
Kandahar police chief General Mohammed Akram identified the assailant as Abdul Rahman from Helmand.
Pashtoon said The man is believed to have been hired four days ago as a security guard for the governor's mansion, which is under renovation. His 14 co-workers were picked up for questioning yesterday to try to determine whether he was linked to any dissident group.
"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.
In Kabul, police said two suspects were detained for questioning after they were linked to the taxi concealing the massive explosives that detonated in a congested market area around the Information Ministry.
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.
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