KABUL, Afghanistan -- Not a day goes by without more news of a bombing, weapons seizure, rocket attack, assassination attempt or shooting in this devastated nation seeking to end decades of war.

The interim government is blaming Taliban and al-Qaida remnants, a former prime minister and Pakistani intelligence officers for most of the violence.

But in a political culture long dominated by intrigue, it's safe to assume the official line tells only part of the story. And the violence may be a harbinger of what's ahead for Afghanistan.

When Afghan officials discuss villains these days, the name most often mentioned is not Osama bin Laden or Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar, but former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a vocal opponent of the interim government and the U.S. presence in Afghanistan. Last week, authorities arrested at least 160 people accused of plotting to undermine the government of Prime Minister Hamid Karzai -- most were members of Hekmatyar's Hezb-e-Islami party. About 100 remained in jail, officials said.

The arrests are likely to inflame tensions between Hekmatyar's mostly ethnic Pashtun followers and the former northern alliance, which is dominated by Tajiks and controls key ministries.

In the past week, the defense minister was targeted by a bomb that killed five people and wounded more than 50. Chinese-made missiles were fired at international peacekeepers. Two pro-U.S. Afghan troops were killed in a grenade attack.

Foreign peacekeepers working with local police said they confiscated a cache of 151 Chinese-made rockets. In a separate sweep, police killed one man and arrested two others while seizing two American-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles among other weapons, the government's Bakhtar news agency said.