Karzai brother 'survives attack'

Ahmad Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president, says he has survived an ambush on his convoy in the east. Mr Karzai, leader of the provincial council in Kandahar, said one of his bodyguards was killed by the attackers, who used rockets and machine-guns. His convoy was ambushed when it was travelling to the capital, Kabul. It is not known who the attackers were. Meanwhile, authorities in eastern Afghanistan say three civilians have been shot dead in a market by soldiers. 'Against me' "We were driving to Kabul. All of a sudden we were attacked from the mountains by rockets and PK machine-guns," Mr Ahmad Wali Karzai was quoted by news agency AFP as saying. "My car was in the lead, my bodyguards were driving in a separate car just behind me which was hit. One of my bodyguards was hit and later died," he said. "I didn't stop, the vehicles in the back stopped and exchanged fire with the attackers," the agency quoted Mr Karzai as saying. "I was the target. The attack was against me," he said. Mr Karzai could not say who the attackers were. This is not the first time Mr Karzai has been attacked. In 2003, Mr Karzai's house in the city was hit by an explosion which he said was caused accidentally when some weapons were being moved. Last year, he was chairing a meeting in a government building when a bomb-filled fuel tanker exploded close by. Although Mr Karzai escaped unhurt, six people were killed and 40 wounded in the blast. More recently, just last month four attackers dressed in Army uniforms infiltrated Karzai's offices in Kandahar, set off a suicide bomb, and engaged in a gun battle with security officers, leaving 17 dead. Again, Karzai managed to escape unharmed. He and other officials blamed Taleban militants for the most recent attack. The Taleban claimed responsibility for the April attack. Karzai has long been suspected of involvement in the Afghan heroin trade, as reported by the New York Times in October 2008. When the Taleban were in power in Afghanistan, the opium trade was banned and punishment for growing opium poppies was swift and severe. However more recently, Taleban warlords are alleged to have begun engaging in the opium trade.