Afghan officials accuse Pakistan of embassy attack

KABUL BOMB: Afghan officials are hinting Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency was behind the attack. (AFP)

Afghan officials accused Pakistan on Tuesday of being behind a suicide blast at the Indian embassy that left 41 people dead, saying the attack had the hallmarks of its intelligence agency.

Monday's car bomb ripped into the embassy compound in the capital, killing two Indian diplomats and two Indian guards as well as nearly three dozen Afghans. Nearly 150 people were wounded, Afghan officials said.

"We believe firmly that there is a particular intelligence agency behind it," presidential spokesman Homayun Hamidzada told reporters. He would not name the outfit but said it was "very obvious" whom he meant.

A senior government official who did not want to be identified told newswire AFP separately: "Pakistan was behind the attack on the Indian embassy."

Hamidzada said the attack was "designed outside Afghanistan and it was exported to Afghanistan" with the help of local collaborators.

"The sophistication of this attack and the kind of materials used and the specific targeting, everything has the hallmark of a particular intelligence agency that has conducted similar terrorist acts in Afghanistan in the past," he said.

Afghanistan regularly accuses circles in Pakistan, a long-time rival of India, of supporting the Taliban and other militants waging a deadly insurgency in the war-ravaged nation. Pakistan rejects the accusation.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday denied his government was involved in the attack, saying in Kuala Lumpur that it was not in Islamabad's interests to destabilise Afghanistan.

A security report to the Afghan cabinet on Monday also accused an unidentified foreign intelligence agency of involvement in the suicide blast, hinting it referred to Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence agency.

"The terrorists no doubt could not have succeeded in launching such an atrocity without full support of foreign intelligence," it said, according to a summary of the cabinet meeting released to journalists.

The report also said a "big number of puppet and foreign terrorists, the enemies of peace and stability of the Afghan people, have entered the country in the past several months," according to the summary.

And in a clear reference to Pakistan, it said "evidence shows that the terrorists have been trained, equipped and financed in professional bases across the border."

The cabinet had "decided to raise the issue with Afghanistan's international anti-terrorism partners seriously," the summary said.

But Afghan and Western officials allege that Islamic extremists have sanctuaries in Pakistan which helped to create the Taliban as an armed militia and was one of only three countries that recognised the hardliners' government.

Islamabad officially dropped its support for the Taliban only after the 9/11 attacks but Afghans allege it still wants the new government in Kabul to fail for its own strategic purposes.

The Taliban, who have claimed almost all of a wave of suicide attacks as part of their insurgency, again denied involvement and blamed rivalry among regional powers, including Pakistan.

"We wish we had carried out this attack... since India has been the enemy of the Islamic Emirate," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed told AFP, referring to the 1996-2001 Taliban regime.

"They send secret military experts to Afghanistan and they train the Afghan army," he said. "Had we carried out the attack, we would have claimed responsibility for it with pride since we have good reasons for it."

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USER COMMENTS (2 COMMENTS)

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Shocking! But it Could be TRUE (??)
Posted by Sagar, Dubai on Thursday 10 July 2008 at 08:16 UAE time


There was a bomb blast a day earlier in Pakistan, and it could have enraged one of the Pakitani in Afghan, linked to ISI, to carry out such gruelsome act. THEN, there was yet another bomb blast in Pakistan, the same day as Afgha Indian Embassy blast, this would have opened up their (ISI and others involved) mind and they would have understood better where to look for culprits (right in their home country, Pakistan.)
I disagree with Saeed Iqbal's comment which hints that Afghan or some terror group operating in Afghan would have carried out this attack. YET, I "agree" with Saeed Iqbal - It would be better to first recognise your failures. I would request you to answer these two questions: Who supported the Taliban regime and where are their leaders? (google this: 'safe heaven for taliban') Who conducted attacks in London ? (Yeah, right GOOGLE it NOW - '7 July 2005 London bombings bombers profile')

Bullocks
Posted by Saeed Iqbal, Sharjah, UAE on Wednesday 9 July 2008 at 13:54 UAE time

This sounds like a lame excuse.....blaming Pakistan. It would be better to first recognise your failures.

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