In a statement read to the press here, the council president, Stefan Tafrov of Bulgaria, said that the 15-nation council "condemned in the strongest possible terms the assassination attempt against President Karzai and Governor Gul Agha Sherzai in Kandahar, as well as the terrorist car bomb explosion in Kabul which killed more than 15 Afghan citizens and injured many others."

"Member of the council stressed that such acts challenge and obstruct the efforts of the Afghan authorities, with the assistance of the international community, to stabilize and return the country to normalcy," the statement said.

"Members of the council, while recognizing that the necessary information is not yet fully available, support the Afghan authorities in the full investigation of these terrorist acts and in their efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice," the statement added.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard Thursday condemned both attacks "in the strongest possible terms."

Thursday's attacks were the worst in Afghanistan since a US-led bombing campaign helped opposition forces depose the hard-line Taliban Islamic militia late last year.

Afghan officials were quick to point the finger of blame for the new attacks at Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, Taliban remnants and other extremists opposed to the US-backed Karzai government.

The attacks come just days before the Sept. 9 anniversary of Northern Alliance commander Ahmed Shah Masood's assassination and the anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the United States.

(People's Daily September 7, 2002)