ISI hand in attack on NATO,says Afghanistan

A spokesman for Afghanistans intelligence agency accused Pakistans intelligence agency of involvement in the suicide bombing.

A spokesman for Afghanistans intelligence agency on Monday accused Pakistans intelligence agency of involvement in the suicide bombing here last week that killed six NATO soldiers. Afghan officials have also voiced suspicions about the agencys role in Taliban suicide attacks on Indian targets in Kabul.

While Saeed Ansari,the spokesman for the National Directorate of Security,Afghanistans spy agency,did not mention the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) by name,he left no doubt of what he meant.

The remarks came in a news conference announcing the arrest of seven people suspected of organising the attack last Tuesday,in which a suicide bomber drove a minivan full of explosives into a convoy of armored SUVs. The blast killed 18 people.

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All the explosions and terrorist attacks by these people were plotted from the other side of the border and most of the explosives and materials used for the attacks were brought from the other side to Afghanistan, Ansari said. When we say that those attacks were plotted from the other side of the border,the intelligence service of our neighbouring country has definitely had its role in equipping and training of this group, Ansari said.

Afghan officials have frequently accused the ISI of supporting the Afghan Taliban and have suggested the ISIs hand in Taliban attacks on Indian targets. In February,suicide bombers attacked two guesthouses popular with Indians,killing 16 people,and in 2008 a suicide bombing of the Indian Embassy killed 41 people. The suspects were involved in the attack on the guesthouses in February,Ansari said.

The seven suspects,all Afghans ranging in age from 21 to 45,lived in Kabul,and included a schoolteacher,a taxi driver and a trading company employee. One was identified as the second in command of the Taliban suicide bombing cell. Ansari said they had been arrested in the past week. Their commander,he said,was a man known as Dawood,the Talibans shadow governor for Kabul.

Ansari released names and photos of suspects as well as videotaped confessions. The men admitted having various roles in the attacks and of belonging to the Taliban. They said the attacks were organised in Peshawar. They did not explicitly implicate the Pakistani ISI.