Afghan authorities have arrested a foreigner in connection with what could have been a devastating bomb attack on the capital Kabul, Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said yesterday.
Authorities arrested a man driving a car packed with hundreds of kilograms of explosives which plotters planned to detonate in an attack on the president, top officials or Western targets like the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Triggered by batteries wired to the vehicle's ventilation system, the device would have turned the car into a one-tonne grenade capable of causing widespread damage.
PHOTO: AFP
"The person who is responsible or accused has been arrested," Abdullah said.
"He is a foreigner. An investigation is continuing."
"Foreigner" in Afghanistan generally refers to an Arab or Pakistani.
The incident on Monday will alarm a government already embarrassed by a series of security lapses this year including the public assassinations of two Cabinet ministers.
President Hamid Karzai has said improving security was vital for attracting foreign investment and for kick-starting an economy shattered by years of conflict.
But the vulnerability of the government has been highlighted by his decision earlier this month to ask the US to provide special forces for his personal bodyguard detail.
Intelligence officials yesterday showed pictures taken of the car and the arrested suspect.
They showed a large quantity of TNT and C4 explosives packed into the panelling of a Toyota Corolla station wagon with hundreds of industrial nuts and bolts.
Two car batteries provided a detonator and backup for the bomb, which would have been triggered by switching on the car's heating or ventilation system.
Amrullah Salihi, a senior intelligence official, said the man arrested was probably not an Afghan.
"He speaks so many languages including some [Afghan language] dari. He could be Arab or Chechen," Salihi said.
"He mentioned Karzai as one of his natural targets. What we have gathered indicates that he is a suicide bomber."
Salihi said if the bomber had failed to get near Karzai, other officials or Western targets could have been next.
"He told me that we are infidels and our deaths would be legitimate," Salihi said. "As a last resort he would have blown it up in a crowded part of the city."
No details of how the would-be bomber was caught were immediately available.
Some officials said the car had been tracked from Pakistan, while others said it had only been discovered in a routine search after a minor traffic accident.
A spokesman for ISAF, UN-mandated peacekeepers charged with policing the capital, said on Monday they had heard of the incident but had no details.
He said ISAF troops, numbering just under 5,000, had not increased their level of alert since the threat was revealed.
One Afghan official said the arrested bomber was a member of "a professional group" similar to that which might have assassinated vice president Haji Abdul Qadir on July 6.
"I want to say that Qadir's murder was a political move and was carried out from political parties that want to overthrow the government," he said.
"These groups operate under the orders and financial assistance of Pakistan," he said.
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