s death was not spontaneous, but planned

? Prime Minister Hamid Karzai blamed senior government officials motivated by a long-standing feud for the brutal slaying of Afghanistan’s aviation minister  killed by a mob in the worst violence in the capital since his government took power.

Three people were arrested and three others were being sought Friday in Saudi Arabia. The alleged conspirators included officials in the intelligence service, justice ministry and defense ministry, said Karzai’s information minister, Abdul Rahim Makhdoom.

Saudi Arabia has agreed to turn over the suspects, a senior Bush administration official said. “Mister Karzai has asked the Saudis for the return of those people immediately. And the Saudis have agreed to do so,” said Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, speaking in an interview on PBS’ “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”

The aviation and tourism minister, Abdul Rahman, a supporter of the exiled king, was killed Thursday in what witnesses said was a mob attack on his plane at Kabul’s airport by pilgrims angry about travel delays to Saudi Arabia for the annual hajj, or Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca. Witnesses and officials said the pilgrims beat Rahman and tossed his body to the tarmac.

But Karzai said the killing had “nothing to do with” the pilgrims.

“He was killed by people who planned it,” Karzai told reporters at a hastily called news conference. “We are asking the Saudis to arrest them and bring them back. … We will try them. We will put them behind bars.”

In Washington, a senior State Department official gave a different account of the killing, saying the airport riot was spontaneous. The crowd became ill-tempered after waiting for two days for documents from Saudi Arabia, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The assault occurred, he said, after the crowd learned Rahman’s plane was leaving.

The official said Rahman was stabbed and not beaten, and acknowledged the man responsible for the alleged stabbing may have had political motives. Asked to explain the differing versions, the official allowed for the possibility that Karzai may have information not available in State Department channels.

At the White House, press secretary Ari Fleischer said President Bush deplores the killing. “It’s another reminder of the horrors Afghanistan went through, and why winning the war on terrorism is so important,” he said.

Rahman was going to New Delhi with a delegation on government business. Some witnesses said the trouble started when rumors spread that the pilgrims’ journey would be delayed because Rahman was using their plane.

The killing raised fears over the ability of Karzai’s government to keep public order in post-Taliban Afghanistan.

Makhdoom announced the names of five men wanted in the slaying. Government-run Kabul TV said six men were accused of playing some role in the “assassination” of Rahman.

The three believed to have left with pilgrims on flights for Saudi Arabia were identified as Gen. Abdullah Jan Tawhidi, the deputy intelligence chief; Gen. Kalandar Beg, deputy of the technical office of the Defense Ministry; and a Justice Ministry official identified only as Halim.

Three other suspects are under arrest; one was identified only as Abdul Rehim.

Karzai suggested the killing was linked to a feud dating to the struggle against the Taliban militia during their 1996-2001 rule.

Kabul saw more disorder Friday when a melee broke out at the main soccer stadium, marring a game between peacekeepers and an Afghan team. Afghan police beat back an unruly overflow crowd outside the stadium with clubs and rifle butts. Fifty Afghans and five peacekeepers were injured, none seriously.