Three people have been arrested over an attempt to shoot down President Hamid Karzai's helicopter during an election campaign visit to south-east Afghanistan, an interior ministry spokesman said Friday.
The three were detained at a village some nine kilometres (5.5 miles) from the scene of the attack near the south-eastern town of Gardez, spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told AFP.
"They had documents and tools related to the rocket attack and were arrested by police with the help of villagers," he said.
Karzai's first visit to southern Afghanistan during the election campaign was aborted after a rocket was fired at his helicopter. The rocket missed its target and landed near a school without causing any casualties.
The three Afghan nationals were not from the area and were hiding in the village, the spokesman said.
Separately, the US military confirmed that a rocket was fired at a helicopter carrying Karzai as he arrived in Gardez to open a road and speak at a high school.