US War Planes Kill 65 Karzai Supporters 24 Hours Before His Inauguration As Premier Saturday

29/05/2001| IslamWeb

KABUL (Islamweb & News Agencies) – US war planes have killed 65 krazai supporters apparently by mistake casting a deep shadow over the inauguration of the country’s first peaceful handover of power in decades Saturday.
Hamid Karzai himself returned to Kabul on Friday to take up the leadership of war-shattered Afghanistan while his ministers-in-waiting raced to finish preparations for his inauguration.
In the Interior Ministry, soldiers and workmen raced to put the finishing touches to the room due to host Saturday's first undisputed and peaceful handover of power in Afghanistan since ex-King Zahir Shah was deposed in a coup in 1973.
A huge picture of legendary mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Masood, assassinated by two suicide bombers two days before the September 11 attacks on the United States, dominated the stage where President Burhanuddin Rabbani will transfer power to Karzai, 44, a tribal aristocrat and pro-king politician.
But reports that U.S. warplanes bombed a convoy of delegates en route from eastern Afghanistan to the ceremony, killing 65 people, including several tribal elders and mujahideen, or holy warriors, threatened to cast a shadow over the celebrations.
Local residents said informers apparently told U.S. contacts that the Karzai supporters were pro-Taliban.
Two local leaders, quoted by the BBC and the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press, said the bombing struck the convoy overnight on the way from the eastern border town of Khost to the Paktia provincial capital Gardez.