Afghan seizure foils major attack
Source: Agencies |
April 22, 2012, Sunday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AFGHAN security forces have arrested five militants with 10 metric tons of explosives that they had brought from Pakistan to use to carry out a massive attack in Kabul, as well as another three planning an assassination attempt against the vice president, an official said yesterday.
The reports of new planned attacks in the capital came a week after militants said to be part of a Pakistan-based group launched brazen coordinated assaults in the heart of Kabul and in other cities.
US officials say they have stepped up pressure on Islamabad to crack down on that group, the Haqqani network, which specializes in high-profile strikes against well-protected targets.
Three of the five men arrested with the 10 tons were members of the Pakistani Taliban, while the other two belonged to the Afghan Taliban, National Director for Security spokesman Shafiqullah Tahiry said at a news conference. He said their orders came from militant leaders with ties to Pakistani intelligence.
"Imagine if 10,000 kilograms of explosives, which was already inside Kabul" had exploded, "what a disaster could have happened," Tahiry said.
Tahiry said the seized explosives were in 400 bags and hidden under potatoes loaded in a truck with Pakistani license plates. The men confessed that they "had planned to carry out a terrorist attack in a key point in Kabul city."
Tahiry also said that security forces had foiled a Haqqani network assassination attempt against Afghan Vice President Mohammed Karim Khalili.
He said three Afghan men arrested on April 15, the day the Kabul attacks began, planned to kill Khalili at his home. They were equipped with suicide vests and small arms.
The reports of new planned attacks in the capital came a week after militants said to be part of a Pakistan-based group launched brazen coordinated assaults in the heart of Kabul and in other cities.
US officials say they have stepped up pressure on Islamabad to crack down on that group, the Haqqani network, which specializes in high-profile strikes against well-protected targets.
Three of the five men arrested with the 10 tons were members of the Pakistani Taliban, while the other two belonged to the Afghan Taliban, National Director for Security spokesman Shafiqullah Tahiry said at a news conference. He said their orders came from militant leaders with ties to Pakistani intelligence.
"Imagine if 10,000 kilograms of explosives, which was already inside Kabul" had exploded, "what a disaster could have happened," Tahiry said.
Tahiry said the seized explosives were in 400 bags and hidden under potatoes loaded in a truck with Pakistani license plates. The men confessed that they "had planned to carry out a terrorist attack in a key point in Kabul city."
Tahiry also said that security forces had foiled a Haqqani network assassination attempt against Afghan Vice President Mohammed Karim Khalili.
He said three Afghan men arrested on April 15, the day the Kabul attacks began, planned to kill Khalili at his home. They were equipped with suicide vests and small arms.
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