Plot to kill Karzai foiled as Afghans arrest six linked to terror networks

Published on Thursday 6 October 2011 00:28

AFGHAN intelligence officials said that they have broken up a cell that plotted to kill president Hamid Karzai, arresting six people in Kabul allegedly linked to al-Qaeda and the Haqqani militant group.

Intelligence service spokesman Latifullah Mashal said the cell included one of Mr Karzai’s bodyguards, a professor at Kabul university and three students. He described the cell as the “most sophisticated and educated group in Kabul”, and said it had assisted Pakistani militants sent to the Afghan capital to carry out terror attacks.

He said the group, which also allegedly planned attacks in Kabul, the US and Europe, was recruited by an Egyptian and a Bangladeshi based in Pakistan.

Afghan officials have been increasingly vocal in publicly accusing Pakistan and its ISI intelligence agency of maintaining ties with militants, including the Haqqani group. On Tuesday, they claimed that Pakistani officials had advance knowledge of the 20 September assassination of former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani.

Pakistan has denied the charges, but the accusations have further strained relations between the two nations that share a 1,500-mile border.

The Haqqani militant group has been blamed by US intelligence officials and others for a number of high-profile attacks in Kabul, including hotel bombings and the 12 September assault on the US Embassy.

Mr Mashal identified the two recruiters as an Egyptian named Sayifullah and a man from Bangladesh named Abdullah, based in Miram Shah, the capital of Pakistan’s North Waziristan region, where the Haqqani group and other militants operate openly.

He said that the six Afghans were recruited “to carry out suicide attacks in Kabul, plan and co-ordinate bigger international attacks in the US and parts of Europe and a luxury hotel in Kabul.”

“They also were responsible for recruiting one of the key security guards of president Karzai’s protective services. They had a plan to assassinate Mr Karzai maybe during his travels or trips to the provinces,” he claimed.