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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Officials killed minister: Karzai |
| 2002-04-16 |
| Afghanistanâs interim leader Hamid Karzai said yesterday that rogue senior security officials of the Afghan interim administration assassinated Aviation and Tourism Minister Abdul Rahman. In a statement read out on his behalf by Culture Minister Sayed Raheem, Karzai said four people had been arrested, among them two military generals. Another three had escaped with Afghans who went for Haj, he said, adding the Saudi authorities had been asked to repatriate the fugitives. Karzai said the killing had been carried out âfor personal reasons.â Speaking after the statement had been read, Karzai told reporters that the case against those arrested was based on âabsolute, multiple eyewitness accounts.â The killing âhad nothing to do with Haj pilgrims,â Karzai said. Earlier, officials had said Rahman was beaten to death by furious pilgrims who had waited more than two days for a flight to the Kingdom. In another development, Afghan police fired shots into the air and set off smoke bombs to control fans as a long-awaited âGame of Unityâ between a Kabul team and foreign troops degenerated into mayhem yesterday. German and Dutch soldiers used batons and shields to hold back thousands of people without tickets to the match, some of whom threw stones at them and into the stadium. |
| Posted by:Fred |