AFP10/12/2007By [Printer Friendly Version] Herat - Afghan police Friday shot dead a would-be assailant and captured two others as they planned to attack a government reception marking the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, officials said. The gunmen were intercepted in an exchange of fire a few minutes away from the governor's office in the western city of Herat, near the border with Iran, police chief Juma Khan Adil said. "These terrorists were planning an attack on government officials including the governor. We had information about it," Adil told AFP. "They opened fire on our forces when they started chasing them. We returned fire and killed one of them and injured and captured two others," he added. An AFP reporter saw the blood-covered body of a man in a four-by-four vehicle at the side of the road in central Herat, a short distance from where officials were celebrating Eid at the governor's office. Adil was unable to say if the gunmen were members of the extremist Taliban militia, which is waging an insurgency against the US-backed government in Kabul. An investigation has been launched, he said. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
