Taliban suicide attackers launched an assault on a national peace conference as it opened on Wednesday in the Afghan capital, sparking gunbattles outside the venue.
Two attackers were killed and one captured but no delegates were hurt, an official said.
The attack, reportedly including rocket fire, started within minutes of President Hamid Karzai beginning his opening address to some 1,600 dignitaries gathered for the conference, known as a peace jirga, in a huge tent pitched on a university compound.
The Taliban, which had earlier threatened to kill anyone who took part, claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to the Associated Press, saying it was intended to sabotage the three-day conference.
Mr Karzai hoped that the jirga, which continued despite the attack, would bolster him politically by endorsing his strategy of offering incentives to individual Taliban fighters and reaching out to the insurgent leadership, despite scepticism in Washington about whether the time is right for an overture to militant leaders.
But the attack underscored the weak grip of Mr Karzai’s government in the face of the Taliban insurgency, which has grown in strength despite the presence of growing numbers of US forces.
Mr Karzai made an appeal to the Taliban — telling them their actions are keeping the international forces they resent in the country. “You should provide the opportunity for the foreign forces to leave,” Mr Karzai told the conference.
“Make peace with me and there will be no need for foreigners here. As long as you are not talking to us, not making peace with us, we will not let the foreigners leave,” he said.
About 10 minutes into his speech, Mr Karzai was briefly interrupted by an explosion outside, which the police said was a rocket. Mr Karzai heard the thud, but dismissed it, telling delegates, “Don’t worry. We’ve heard this kind of thing before.”
Soon afterward, an AP reporter nearby heard a loud explosion and saw smoke rising from a second apparent rocket attack that struck about 100 meters (yards) from the venue.
Bursts of gunfire could be heard to the south of the venue, and security forces rushed to the area. Helicopters flew overhead. Mr Farooq Wardak, a government minister responsible for organising the jirga, said three militants dressed in burqas and carrying explosives and armed with guns and at least one grenade launcher were involved in the attack. Two died in fighting outside the venue and one was captured, he said.
He said they were operating from a building about 1.5 km away from the venue.
It was not immediately clear if they had attempted to breach the venue itself on foot. Police officer Kamaluddin, who goes by one name, said a suicide bomber detonated explosives a few hundred yards from the tent, but other officials could not immediately confirm that.
Lt. Col. Joseph T. Breasseale, a spokesman for international forces in Afghanistan, said some insurgents were shot, but reports were unclear as to how many.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid gave a slightly different account of the attack. He said a group of four suicide attackers disguised in Afghan Army uniforms had opened fire in an attempt “to sabotage and destroy this peace jirga.”
Mr Abdul Sattar Khawasi, a legislator from Parwan province attending the jirga, said the ability of the militants to launch the attack underscored the weakness of Karzai’s administration. “Unfortunately this shows the weakness of the government, and the weakness of the security forces, that they were unable to provide enough security for this consultative peace jirga,” he said.
One prominent civil society activist expressed scepticism that the conference could help bring peace. Delegates include individuals with links to militants but not active members of the Taliban and other insurgent groups.