KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- President Hamid Karzai was warned of a weekend assassination plot against him, Afghanistan's intelligence chief said Tuesday, acknowledging that failings by the security services allowed militants to launch the attack.
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President Hamid Karzai waves during the ceremony, before Taliban militants opened fire.
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Meanwhile, a suicide assault killed 18 people, including 11 police, in an eastern province, officials said. Thirty-six people, including two Australian journalists, were wounded.
Amrullah Saleh told Parliament that the plot to kill Karzai was hatched last month and that the gunmen had rented the hotel room they opened fire from 45 days before the attack.
Karzai and other dignitaries escaped unharmed from Sunday's assault during a ceremony in Kabul marking Afghanistan's victory over the Soviet occupation of the country in the 1980s. Three other people died, including a lawmaker.
Three of the attackers were also killed in a gun battle with security forces after the assault, Karzai's government said, but the Taliban said three insurgents got away.
"We had technical information ... that this work would happen," Saleh said at a National Assembly session broadcast live on national television. "We passed this information to the national security [advisor] and to the president of Afghanistan."
Despite stringent measures by security services to protect the event, "the result is that we failed," Saleh said.
An Afghan intelligence official has said that about 100 people were rounded up for questioning after the attack Sunday. Some of them had since been freed, officials say. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
"Tragically, the attackers succeeded in getting close enough to fire some shots," said a statement issued by U.S. Ambassador William Wood.
It took authorities two minutes to defeat the attack, Wood said.
Karzai was warned of assassination plot
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- President Hamid Karzai was warned of a weekend assassination plot against him, Afghanistan's intelligence chief said Tuesday, acknowledging that failings by the security services allowed militants to launch the attack.
art.karzai.afp.gi.jpg
President Hamid Karzai waves during the ceremony, before Taliban militants opened fire.
Click to view previous image
1 of 2
Click to view next image
Meanwhile, a suicide assault killed 18 people, including 11 police, in an eastern province, officials said. Thirty-six people, including two Australian journalists, were wounded.
Amrullah Saleh told Parliament that the plot to kill Karzai was hatched last month and that the gunmen had rented the hotel room they opened fire from 45 days before the attack.
Karzai and other dignitaries escaped unharmed from Sunday's assault during a ceremony in Kabul marking Afghanistan's victory over the Soviet occupation of the country in the 1980s. Three other people died, including a lawmaker.
Three of the attackers were also killed in a gun battle with security forces after the assault, Karzai's government said, but the Taliban said three insurgents got away.
"We had technical information ... that this work would happen," Saleh said at a National Assembly session broadcast live on national television. "We passed this information to the national security [advisor] and to the president of Afghanistan."
Despite stringent measures by security services to protect the event, "the result is that we failed," Saleh said.
An Afghan intelligence official has said that about 100 people were rounded up for questioning after the attack Sunday. Some of them had since been freed, officials say. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
"Tragically, the attackers succeeded in getting close enough to fire some shots," said a statement issued by U.S. Ambassador William Wood.
It took authorities two minutes to defeat the attack, Wood said.
