Security commander questioned in Karzai case

U.S. Special Forces soldiers respond to Thursday's attempt on Karzai's life.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghan authorities have detained 17 men for questioning about the attempted assassination of President Hamid Karzai, a government spokesman said Friday.

The detainees included the security commander responsible for recruiting the suspected gunman into a detail at the Kandahar governor's palace, where the attempt took place, and the commander's underlings, according to Khalid Pashtun, the Foreign Ministry's representative in Kandahar.

The suspect, Abdur Rehman, had recently been recruited for the security detail. He was shot dead in the aftermath of the assassination attempt.

Karzai was not hurt and returned to Kabul early Friday. He said he was undeterred by the attempt.

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"I've been through this before," Karzai told reporters. "I've been hit three times at summits. Did that stop us from fighting? My father was assassinated by terrorists. Did that stop him from fighting against them?"

"I will not stop," the president said. "I'll continue."

The Foreign Ministry told CNN, however, that Karzai may curtail some of his future public appearance, but will not abandon them completely.

Despite the attack, Afghanistan "is a much more stable and secure place than it was a year ago," a Pentagon spokeswoman said Friday.

"We have taken the lead in working with the Afghan people to try to restore the country to some semblance of security and stability," said Victoria Clarke. "We have thousands and thousands of people who are putting their necks on the line every day to root out the remaining al Qaeda and Taliban."

She added, "We are committing lots of people and lots of resources to the Afghan national army. We are helping those who are training the police forces, the border patrols. We are going as aggressively as we can to bring security and stability to that country."

The Afghan Foreign Ministry's Pashtun speculated that the assassination attempt may have been the work of the Taliban and Gollbuddin Hekmatyar, a mujahedeen who served as Afghanistan's prime minister briefly before he lost the job to the Taliban.

Hekmatyar, a radical Islamist known for switching sides to further his own goals, supported the Taliban last year against the U.S.-led war on terrorism. Earlier this week, Time magazine published reports that Hekmatyar, who fled to Iran in 1996 but left there in February when Iranian authorities threatened to expel him, may have joined forces with fugitive Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Earlier, a government source in Kabul said that authorities had made "a number of arrests," but it was unclear if Pashtun and the source were referring to the same detentions.

Meanwhile, Rehman's body was in the custody of U.S. forces at Kandahar Air Base, other sources said.

Rehman was from neighboring Helmand province, in an area that has long been a Taliban stronghold, and was related to a senior figure in the Taliban. Afghan officials said recruits would undergo a more rigorous background check in the future.

Video of the scene shows Karzai inside a vehicle greeting well-wishers moments before the shots began.

U.S. Special Forces, which provide security for Karzai, responded with gunfire, killing the gunman instantly. Two other men near the gunman also were killed, but it was not immediately clear if they died in the crossfire or were shot by the gunman. One of those who died was a Karzai bodyguard, a top Afghan official said.

Kandahar Gov. Gul Agha Sherzai, who is a member of the ethnic Pashtun tribe and a supporter of the Karzai government, was wounded by a bullet that grazed his neck.

Sherzai was treated and released at a medical facility at the Kandahar Air Base.

A U.S. Special Forces soldier also was shot in the shoulder during the attack and was in stable condition at a medical facility in the region, the U.S. Central Command said.

It was the second time in recent months authorities have thwarted an attempt to kill the new Afghan president. In late July, officials said they found a car filled with explosives that was meant to kill Karzai.

Meanwhile, the International Security Assistance Force has beefed up security in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, after two bomb blasts rocked the city center Thursday, killing at least 26 people and wounding at least 100 others, according to the ISAF.

The blasts occurred near the Ministry of Information and Culture, but it was unclear if the building was the intended target.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for either incident.

Afghan and international officials blame al Qaeda and Taliban remnants for planning both attacks in Kabul and Kandahar, just a week before the September 11 anniversary, as well as the September 9 anniversary of the assassination of anti-Taliban military leader Ahmed Shah Massoud.

Karzai was planning to travel to the Panjsher Valley to mark the anniversary of Massoud's death, but the fate of those plans was unclear in the wake of the assassination attempt.

The day of violence underscored authorities' concerns leading up to next week's anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks on the United States. The al Qaeda terrorists responsible for those attacks were harbored by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, which has since been toppled by the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour, Correspondent Matthew Chance and Producer Ryan Chilcote contributed to this report.