Kabul peacekeepers attacked

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan – Peacekeepers in the Afghan capital came under fire for the first time Saturday, their commander said. Interim Prime Minister Hamid Karzai, speaking at the grave of a slain government minister, prayed for an end to “the culture of the knife and the gun.”

The shooting was the latest in violence this week that has raised security worries in the capital, which has been calm since Karzai’s government was inaugurated in December.

Sx British peacekeepers returned fire after their observation post was shot at early Saturday, the commander said. Later, a patrol found one person dead in a nearby house, he said.

Details were scarce on the shooting early Saturday involving the peacekeepers. British Col. Richard Barrons, the peacekeepers’ chief of staff, did not say what time his men’s observation post was fired on, or in what part of the capital the incident occurred.

Barrons reported no injuries among the British soldiers, and said they were “extracted” after returning fire.

Also, a group of Afghan civilians in Kabul reported they were shot at about 1 a.m. Saturday near a peacekeepers’ post as they were trying to drive a pregnant woman to the hospital. A 19-year-old man was killed.

It was not immediately clear if the two incidents were linked, or if the two posts were the same.

On Thursday, a Cabinet minister was killed in an attack at Kabul’s airport. Karzai blamed a conspiracy within his own government.

At Saturday’s funeral for Abdul Rahman, the slain minister of aviation and tourism, Karzai called for an end to “the culture of the knife and the gun” in Afghanistan.

“With God’s help in the future, no one will do these kinds of things any more,” a somber Karzai told the crowd of several thousand people gathered in the muddy cemetery.

In other developments:

More than 100 peacekeepers from Turkey arrived Saturday, the first soldiers from a Muslim country to join the international security patrols in Kabul.

Taliban officials greatly inflated the number of people living in Afghanistan’s largest camp for displaced people, the International Organization for Migration said. The population of the Maslakh camp, near the western city of Herat, is 118,000, the organization said. Until now, aid agencies have supplied aid based on a figure of 324,000.

An Australian soldier fighting with the U.S.-led coalition was killed in a land mine explosion, the Australian government said Sunday. The soldier, who was not identified, died Saturday. Australia has committed 1,550 military personnel to the war.