Afghan spy agency arrests Pakistani suspect for attack on NATO base

Afghanistan's intelligence agency said Tuesday it had arrested a suspected Pakistani militant who led an attack on a NATO base in eastern Afghanistan, DPA reported.

The suspect, identified as Zarmalook, was arrested in the eastern province of Nangahar after he led a group of 12 men to attack a NATO base near the provincial capital Jalalabad on April 6, spy agency spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told reporters in Kabul.

Zarmalook, who like many Afghans and Pakistanis goes by a single name, was arrested trying to cross the border into Pakistan, he said.

The suspect allegedly confessed to Afghan agents that he had received military training in a Taliban camp in North Waziristan, a lawless tribal area near the Afghan border, he said.

During the assault, Afghan and NATO forces killed seven attackers, while the rest including Zarlook managed to escape. Mashal did not say that what happened to other attackers.

The agency also presented another Pakistani suspect named Khalid Alrahman, who had allegedly crossed the border to carry out a suicide attack in Jalalabad but surrendered to Afghan forces instead.

Alrahman told reporters that he was among hundreds of young men getting military training in a Taliban camp Miranshah, the capital of his native province of North Waziristan.

"We learned different types of suicide bombings in the training centre," the 20-year-old said. "I did not want to shed the blood of innocent Afghan people so I surrendered to the security forces."

Afghan officials including President Hamid Karzai have repeatedly accused the Pakistani government of not doing enough to clamp down on Taliban militants operating in their tribal areas.

The US military has increased its aerial bombing by unmanned drones in those areas since early last year. The military incursions have strained US-Pakistan relations.