A rocket landed near a school in southeast Afghanistan minutes before President Hamid Karzai was due to visit, forcing him to abandon his trip, presidential spokesman Jawad Ludin told AFP. The US-backed president was on an official visit to Gardez, 100 kilometers (63 miles) southeast of Kabul in Paktia province, to inaugurate a road and to make a speech in Khwaja Hassanian high school. “According to preliminary information the rocket was fired from (neighbouring) Ghazni province,” he said. Karzai’s helicopter was about to land when the rocket explosion was heard so it did not land and instead flew him back to Kabul. “The helicopter was landing but as it happened (the rocket attack) they decided to go back to Kabul and now the president is in Kabul,” Ludin said. Following the rocket attack the event in Gardez was cancelled. “Now we do believe that there probably was an over reaction by security. But the security has the final word in these cases,” he added.An investigation was underway to find out if Karzai was the target of the attack. The last time there was a direct assassination attempt on the Afghan president was September 2002, which Karzai narrowly escaped. Militants loyal to the ousted Taliban regime have threatened to disrupt the historic 9 October polls, when Karzai will stand as one of 18 presidential candidates. Full Story
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