Haqqani network blamed for Kabul attacks
Source: Agencies |
April 17, 2012, Tuesday
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A MILITANT arrested in the attacks on the Afghan capital Kabul and three other cities has confessed that the 18-hour assault was carried out by the Haqqani network, a lethal group of fighters with ties to the Taliban and al-Qaida, a top Afghan official said yesterday.
Thirty-six insurgents were killed during the brazen attacks that also claimed the lives of eight policemen and three civilians and proved that militants can still penetrate Afghan security after 10 years of war, Interior Minister Besmillah Mohammadi said.
It was the most widespread attack in the Afghan capital since an assault on the United States Embassy and NATO headquarters last September - an assault also blamed on the Haqqani network, which commands the loyalties of an estimated 10,000 fighters considered one of the most serious threats to NATO in Afghanistan.
In Kabul yesterday, residents awoke to loud explosions and the crackle of gunfire. The attacks on the Afghan capital ended when insurgents who had holed up overnight in two buildings were overcome by heavy gunfire from Afghan-led forces and pre-dawn air assaults from US-led coalition helicopters.
Rocket-propelled grenades were fired one after another into a building in the center of the city where insurgents began their attack on Sunday. The building, which is under construction, overlooks the presidential palace, Western embassies and government ministries. The US, German and British embassies and some coalition and Afghan government buildings took direct and indirect fire, according to Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the US-led coalition.
Shortly before 3am, coalition helicopters began flying over the structure. At 4:23am a religious cleric began calling Muslim worshippers to prayer over a loudspeaker in the area. During the next 15 minutes, troops launched five rocket-propelled grenades into the building. More followed.
Red and white flashes could be seen inside the various floors of the multi-story building. By about 6:30am, the blasts and shooting had stopped. Fighting there and at another building under construction near the Afghan parliament building on the southwest side of the city ended just before 8am.
Yesterday, Afghan security forces arrested a suicide bomber in eastern part of the capital before he was able to carry out an attack, according to a statement from the Kabul police.
Two suicide bombers and another insurgent arrested on Sunday on the west side of the city have confessed to being members of the Haqqani network, said Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service.
Apart from Kabul, the eastern capitals of Paktia, Logar and Nangarhar provinces also came under attack on Sunday.
Thirty-six insurgents were killed during the brazen attacks that also claimed the lives of eight policemen and three civilians and proved that militants can still penetrate Afghan security after 10 years of war, Interior Minister Besmillah Mohammadi said.
It was the most widespread attack in the Afghan capital since an assault on the United States Embassy and NATO headquarters last September - an assault also blamed on the Haqqani network, which commands the loyalties of an estimated 10,000 fighters considered one of the most serious threats to NATO in Afghanistan.
In Kabul yesterday, residents awoke to loud explosions and the crackle of gunfire. The attacks on the Afghan capital ended when insurgents who had holed up overnight in two buildings were overcome by heavy gunfire from Afghan-led forces and pre-dawn air assaults from US-led coalition helicopters.
Rocket-propelled grenades were fired one after another into a building in the center of the city where insurgents began their attack on Sunday. The building, which is under construction, overlooks the presidential palace, Western embassies and government ministries. The US, German and British embassies and some coalition and Afghan government buildings took direct and indirect fire, according to Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the US-led coalition.
Shortly before 3am, coalition helicopters began flying over the structure. At 4:23am a religious cleric began calling Muslim worshippers to prayer over a loudspeaker in the area. During the next 15 minutes, troops launched five rocket-propelled grenades into the building. More followed.
Red and white flashes could be seen inside the various floors of the multi-story building. By about 6:30am, the blasts and shooting had stopped. Fighting there and at another building under construction near the Afghan parliament building on the southwest side of the city ended just before 8am.
Yesterday, Afghan security forces arrested a suicide bomber in eastern part of the capital before he was able to carry out an attack, according to a statement from the Kabul police.
Two suicide bombers and another insurgent arrested on Sunday on the west side of the city have confessed to being members of the Haqqani network, said Lutfullah Mashal, a spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service.
Apart from Kabul, the eastern capitals of Paktia, Logar and Nangarhar provinces also came under attack on Sunday.
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