Taliban attack launch of Karzai's Afghan peace bid

[cory777]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Taliban suicide commandos attacked a huge gathering of Afghan elders and notables on Wednesday just as President Hamid Karzai launched an ambitious peace plan he hopes will persuade the insurgents to lay down their arms.

Officials said three rockets aimed at a vast tent where the traditional jirga (gathering) was being held fell short, and security officials clashed with an unknown number of gunmen -- one who blew himself up with a bomb.

Sporadic firing could still be heard an hour after the initial attack, Reuters witnesses at the scene said.

Unpopular at home despite an election victory last year that was mired in controversy, Karzai called the jirga of tribal leaders, elders and other notables to forge national consensus for overtures to the Taliban.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65116E20100602

[unhappycamper]

1. Kabul conference opens with attack, gunfire

Source: Stars & Stripes



Kabul conference opens with attack, gunfire
By Michael Gisick
STARS AND STRIPES
Published: June 2, 2010

KABUL — Three men in burqas attacked the heavily-guarded opening ceremony of a three-day peace conference in Kabul Wednesday morning, Afghan officials said.

Two of the attackers were shot and killed during a gunbattle with Afghan security forces moments after President Hamid Karzai finished a speech kicking off the conference, known as a jirga, a pair of Afghan officials said.

One of the attackers was able to fire a rocket-propelled grenade toward the complex of air-conditioned tents where the conference was being held, the officials said. A hospital official said one person had been wounded in the attack, but not seriously.

The third attacker was arrested and is being interrogated, Wahid Omar, a spokesman for Karzai, told a press conference.

Read more: http://www.stripes.com/news/kabul-conference-opens-with-attack-gunfire-1.105391

[formercia]

2. I guess the Taliban were pissed for not being invited.

Great way to make friends and influence the Elders.