An Afghan journalist runs away after a rocket propelled grenade lands near him during an attack against President Hamid Karzai near the presidential palace in Kabul April 27, 2008. Karzai was hussled away but escaped unhurt after an assassination attempt during an official celebration in the capital, Kabul, on Sunday.
In a press release released earlier, Karzai's office said Naseer Ahmad Latifi, a leader of local Qezir-bash tribe, who attended the ceremony, was killed. It said a 10-year-old boy also died in the incident, but did not say under what kind of circumstances he was killed.
Nine others including two parliamentarians, namely Daoud Zazai, and Fazul-rahman Samkanai, were injured, it further said.
A health ministry official, who declined to be named for his lack of authority to speak to media, earlier told Xinhua that among the other seven injured were one military officer, three soldiers, and three civilians.
A latest report of local televisions quoting officials said the seriously-wounded Fazul-rahman Samkanai died in hospital.
One injured soldier was also dead, Afghan defense ministry spokesman Zahir Azimi said.
The April 27 ceremony marks the 16th anniversary of Mujahideen victory against the former Soviet Union-backed Najibullah communist regime in Afghanistan, which collapsed in April 1992.
The Afghan government had beefed up the security in Kabul especially for the function since some two months ago.
The Taliban, fighting the Afghan government and foreign troops since being ousted from power in late 2001 by a U.S.-led invasion, had taken the responsibility. There has been no official word on the reported deaths or arrests of attackers.
Conflicts and Taliban-related violence have left over 400 people dead so far this year in war-torn Afghanistan, where Taliban militants recently have vowed to launch the "Spring offensive" to intensify their guerrilla-style attacks on the Afghan government and foreign troops.
