Live TV pictures showed confused scenes
Three people have been killed and about 10 injured in an attack on a military parade in Kabul attended by Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Taliban militants opened fire at the military ceremony in the Afghan capital on Sunday morning. According to reports a lawmaker, a tribal leader and 10-year-old child were killed, but President Hamid Karzai escaped unhurt. The attack also wounded more than 12 people, including a member of parliament, a Health Ministry official told reporters. The attack occurred at a Mujahedeen Victory Day ceremony, observing the 16th anniversary of Afghanistan mujahedeen fighters' overthrow of President Mohammad Najibullah's Soviet-backed regime. Small arms fire erupted as a military band played the Afghan national anthem and as soldiers fired a 21-gun salute with artillery rounds. What was of even greater embarrassment for the Afghan government was that the incident occurred during a Live television broadcast though it was swiftly cut, switching instead to music. It is not the first time that Karzai has been targeted by assassins. In June 2007 Taleban fire rockets were fired at a school in Ghazni province where he was speaking. In September 2004 a rocket was fired at the landing site of a helicopter taking Mr Karzai to Gardez in the south-east. No-one was killed or injured in either of these incidents but in September 2002 a militant dressed in Afghan army uniform fired at Mr Karzai's car in Kandahar, wounding the province's governor and a bodyguard [CNN / BBC].
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