Afghan intelligence: Four arrested in attack on deputy spy chief

Afghan agents arrested four militants allegedly responsible for killing the country's deputy intelligence chief and foiled an attack on a provincial governor, the country's spy agency said Tuesday, DPA reported.
Abdullah Laghmani, the deputy head of Afghanistan's intelligence service, who was visiting his hometown on September 2, was killed along with 23 other people, mostly civilians, when a suicide bomber targeted him in Mihtarlam, the capital city of the eastern province of Laghman. More than 70 people were wounded in the attack.

Abadul Rahman, a military commander of Taliban fighters in Laghman, and three of his associates were arrested for planning the attack, the intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security, said in a statement. It did not say when or where the group was rounded up.

Rahman confessed that he received an order for the bombing from Shahid Khel and Maulawi Kabir, two Taliban leaders living in Peshawar, Pakistan, it said.

The attack was carried out by a Pakistani national by the name of Abdul Jabar, it said, citing Rahman's confession.

The statement also said that by arresting the group, the agency foiled an attack on Laghman's governor because the group planned to target the provincial headquarters with a truck loaded with 2,500 kilograms of explosives.

The would-be suicide bombing was also plotted by Taliban leaders in Peshawar and was planned to be carried out by two Pakistani bombers, the statement added.

Afghan officials have repeatedly blamed Pakistan's government for allowing the Afghan Taliban to run training camps inside Pakistan, from where they plot attacks on Afghan soldiers and the more than 110,000 foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan.

The Pakistan Army has intensified its operations this year against Taliban fighters based in north-western areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan.

But Afghan officials still complained about the lack of military action against the militants, who, they claimed, are also enjoying sanctuaries in Balochistan in south-western Pakistan.

The US military, which is seeing its deadliest year in Afghanistan with 310 soldier fatalities, has stepped up its airstrikes conducted by unmanned drones in border areas of Pakistan, which has sparked outrage in that country.