President comments on upsurge in violence gripping country

(4 Aug 2006) 1. Wide shot of presidential palace 2. Afghan President Hamid Karzai walking to the microphone at news conference 3. Cutaway of video camera 4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan President: "The Afghan people are grieving for those we lost yesterday. We are at the same time very sorry for the loss of Canadian soldiers yesterday and we thank the international community for their continuous attention to Afghanistan, for their support for the rebuilding of Afghanistan, for their support for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, and for their willingness to put their lives in danger for the sake of peace and stability in Afghanistan." 5. Medium shot of Afghanistan officials 6. SOUNDBITE: (Dari) Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan President: "I hope that these casualties do not add any more to the people of Lebanon and people of Israel, and may peace start within a short time in both countries. We are especially distressed about the people of Lebanon, and about civilian casualties in Lebanon and Lebanese children who are being martyred (killed) and become victims in huge numbers without any reason, and we share the grief with them." 7. President Karzai walking back to the palace STORYLINE: On Friday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai held a news conference, following a wave of violence in southern Afghanistan on Thursday in which Afghan civilians and Canadian soldiers were killed. The violence comes just days after NATO took charge of security in the volatile south from the US-led coalition. In the southern town of Panjwayi on Thursday, a suicide bomber in a car blew himself up in a crowded market, killing 21 civilians, including children, near a NATO convoy, officials said. 13 people were also injured in the blast, that left a scene of devastation in the heart of the town of Panjwayi in Kandahar province, said a provincial government spokesman. The attack was one of the deadliest bombings in Afghanistan since the ousting of the Taliban in late 2001 by US-led forces. In other violence on Thursday, four Canadian soldiers were killed and 10 wounded in militant attacks. In the deadliest attack, suspected Taliban fighters firing rocket-propelled grenades from the area of a school killed three Canadian soldiers of the NATO force, and wounded six near the village of Pashmul, west of Kandahar, said a NATO statement. Hours earlier on Thursday, two roadside bombs planted on a highway by suspected Taliban militants, also near Kandahar city, killed one Canadian soldier and wounded four others. Karzai said that the Afghan people were sorry for the deaths of their people and of the Canadians, and were grieving for the lives lost. Karzai also thanked the international community for their continued support in re-building Afghanistan and for their "willingness to put their lives in danger for the sake of peace and stability in Afghanistan." He went on to express his distress at civilian casualties in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and hoped that peace prevailed. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...