Afghan president safe after attack

Automatic gunfire broke out at a ceremony here today, forcing the Afghan president and other dignitaries to take cover.

A Defense Ministry spokesman said President Hamid Karzai, all Cabinet members and foreign diplomats were safe. Two lawmakers were reported wounded.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack against Karzai, saying militants with suicide vests and guns were nearby. Three of six attackers were killed during the assault, the spokesman said.

Hundreds of people fled in chaos as shots rang out. A live TV broadcast of the event in Kabul quickly cut out.

Karzai was escorted from the scene, surrounded by bodyguards, in one of four black Land Cruisers.

“President Hamid Karzai, with all the Cabinet members and foreign diplomats who were on the main stage are safe,” Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi said. “They have been evacuated from the area. It is not an exact report yet, and I’m not sure, but I heard two parliamentarians are wounded.”

A police officer at the scene said he saw two people firing AK-47 assault rifles from a house toward the area where Karzai and other dignitaries were sitting.

The gunfire erupted as the national anthem ended at a ceremony to mark the 16th anniversary of the victory over the Soviet invasion, which ended in 1992.

TV footage showed a couple of dignitaries who appeared to be lawmakers slump in their seats as the shooting began.