Court given glimpse of how terror raids are planned

Published on Thursday 10 February 2011 15:44

An Afghan has publicly confessed to helping a suicide bomber cross the Pakistan border so he could attack a Kabul supermarket popular with foreigners, in a rare glimpse of how such operations are organised.

Mohammad Khan, 33, an employee of an Afghan cell-phone company, yesterday described to a court how he travelled to Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal area to help mediate the release of two French journalists who had been held by the Taleban for more than a year.

Together with another friend, he headed to the insurgent stronghold of Miram Shah, where they met with local commanders of the Haqqani network, a militant group closely allied with the Taleban that carries out cross-border attacks from sanctuaries in Pakistan. On the trip back, they brought with them another passenger.

"Who's he?" Khan said he asked his friend. He was told the man's name was Shuwaib. Only after they made it through the rugged mountains back to Kabul did he find out the man was a suicide bomber hoping to hit foreigners in the capital.

On 28 January, the three men took a taxi to the Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood, home to several embassies. As they neared their destination, Khan was told to get out of the car.

Minutes later, the man identified as Shuwaib entered the Finest supermarket, popular with foreigners. He threw at least one grenade and fired on the crowd before detonating his explosives.

Eight people were killed, including six members of a single Afghan family.

"Now I know the victims were Afghans, I'm very repentant," Khan said. "It's a very bad thing I've done."

The Taleban have claimed responsibility for the attack, which it said was aimed at the US security contractor formerly known as Blackwater, now called Xe Services. The firm said none of its members were killed or wounded.