Hundreds held in Karzai shooting attempt

KABUL, Afghanistan, April 28 (UPI) -- Funeral services were conducted Monday for a Shiite Muslim leader, one of three people killed in an assassination attempt on Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Afghan police and intelligence service personnel detained hundreds of suspects in Kabul, among them the suspected assailants, The Times of London reported. Afghan soldiers sealed off parts of the capital as intelligence officials conducted searches throughout the city.

"First, it (the investigation) will investigate the plot and identify those behind the attack ... and second it will find out where the problem in providing security lay," Afghan Defense Minister Gen. Abdul Rahim Wardak said.

World leaders, NATO and the United Nations condemned the attempt on Karzai during national celebrations Sunday, Euronews.net reported Monday. Besides local Shiite Muslim leader Nasir Ahmad Lateri, an Afghan lawmaker and a 10-year-old boy were killed when militants fired automatic weapons and rockets during a ceremony marking the 16th anniversary of the fall of the Afghan communist government.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying three of its fighters died. The Hezbi-Islami group, which is fighting U.S. troops in eastern Afghanistan, also said it carried out the attack, the Times reported.