KABUL, Sept 9: Thousands of Afghans led by President Hamid Karzai paid tribute to anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Masood on the second anniversary of his assassination by suspected Al Qaeda suicide bombers on Tuesday.

Masood was killed in the northeast town of Khawaja Bahaudin, near the Tajik border on Sept 9, 2001, two days before the terror attacks on New York and Washington, by two men posing as television journalists.

To mourn the death of Masood around 10,000 people gathered in Kabul stadium on Tuesday, decorated in the black, red and green colours of the national flag, beneath a huge portrait of Masood.

Amid tight security, government officials led by Karzai took the place of honour alongside top Mujahedin leaders from the 1979-1989 war against Soviets, and Masood’s former comrades-in-arms from the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance.

The resistance leader’s three brothers and his 14-year-old son Ahmad Masood, wearing the traditional pakol cap worn by his father, also attended.

Hundreds of soldiers from the new Afghan National Army and pro-government militiamen stood to attention on the pitch of the stadium, which was used for public executions under the ousted Taliban regime.

A helicopter flew overhead, showering flowers and portraits of Masood on the crowd.

Karzai, Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, former president Burhanuddin Rabbani and mujahedin leader Abdul Sayyaf made speeches to honour the slain commander.

“Masood represents the two million martyrs who lost their lives fighting the invasion and terrorism,” Karzai said.

“Masood’s name goes deep in the history of the three decades of our fight and struggle,” Fahim said.

At Tuesday’s ceremony Afghan officials and the commander of the International Security Assistance Force peacekeepers, German Lt-Gen Goetz Gliemeroth, laid wreaths in front of the giant Masood portrait.

Masood’s son urged Afghans to honour his father’s “martyrdom” and efforts in “securing Afghanistan’s national identity.”

“Now it is our responsibility to respect this and to do our best to realise that great aim and to avoid any kind of tribal, factional, language and religious discrimination.”—AFP