13 rebels held, attack on USAID office foiled: NDS

KABUL): More than a dozen suspected militants have been detained by intelligence operatives in eastern Nangarhar and central Logar provinces, an official said on Tuesday.

Four rebels were arrested while trying to attack an office of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) spokesman said.

Lotfullah Mashal told a news conference in Kabul two suicides vests, as many Kalashnikovs, 16 magazines, six hand grenades and two burqas were recovered from the detainees, identified as Zakaria, Zabihullah, Latifullah and Mahmoodul Haq, residents of Khost, Takhar and Nangarhar respectively.

Two of the detainees were students of Nangarhar University and a Peshawar-based private institute, Mashal said, adding the youth had been sent to Afghanistan by militant commanders Jafar and Qari Bilal for a suicide attack on the USAID office.

The detainees, who confessed to their crime in a video sent to Pajhwok Afghan News, received training from Uzbek and Pakistani militants in Jalalabad. However, were arrested ahead of reaching their target.  

Another suspect was held in Jalalabad on the charge of spying for Pakistan commander, and ISI officer Tariq. Mashal quoted the detainee as saying he had received 45,000 Pakistani rupees for cooperation with the ISI.

Two more rebels — including a Pakistani, Sohail Khan, a resident of Mohmand Agency — were detained in Nangarhar, the NDS official said. The Pakistani was directed by Qari Abdul Wali, a rebel commander, to conduct a suicide attack in the Marko Bazaar of Ghanikhel district.

Four other suspects were detained in central Logar province, according to Mashal, who said the individuals had been directed by Karim, alias Jahanzeb, and Qari Noor Khan, alias Maulana, to poison Afghan soldiers in Daudkhel area.

Two rebels — tasked with conducting suicide attacks in the 3rd Macro Ryan residential area of Kabul — were also detained in Logar. Mashal said the detainees had joined the Taliban movement in Mohammad Agha district.

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