Afghan authorities have announced the arrests of seven people in connection with a suicide car bombing that killed six NATO soldiers, including four colonels — three of them American and one Canadian.
Last week’s blast was the first in a series of major Taliban attacks against NATO targets — the insurgents’ apparent response to a planned NATO offensive in the south and peace overtures by the Afghan government.
Altogether, 18 people were killed in the blast on Tuesday last week near the destroyed Afghan royal palace, the deadliest attack against coalition forces in the Afghan capital in eight months. The car bombing was followed a day later by a ground assault against the US-run Bagram Air Field north of Kabul, and Saturday’s attack on the giant Kandahar Air Field, the biggest NATO base in southern Afghanistan.
Afghanistan intelligence service spokesman Saeed Ansari told reporters on Monday that the seven, including one schoolteacher, were taken into custody separately over the past week.
He did not say what specific roles the seven were suspected of playing in the attack and it was unclear what impact the arrests would have on Taliban operations in the capital, which is far more peaceful than many other parts of the country.
Ansari said the seven were under the command of the Taliban’s “shadow governor” of Kabul, Daoud Surkha, who the Afghans allege is hiding in Pakistan.
TERROR CELL
He said the cell was responsible for at least seven other attacks in the capital since last year, including the February assault against guesthouses frequented by foreigners in which six Indians were killed.
Previously Ansari said the February attack was carried out by the Pakistan-based insurgent group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which India blames for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that claimed 166 lives.
“We are saying that they have been trained on the other side of the border, so it is clear that the intelligence service of our neighboring country has its role in the training and supporting of this terrorist group,” he said in a clear reference to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Agency, which maintained close ties to the Taliban years ago.
Taliban fighters still use the lawless areas along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan as a sanctuary despite Pakistani military operations and US drone attacks.
In Islamabad, Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Basit called the allegation of involvement by his country’s intelligence service “all baseless and groundless.”
“We are committed that our soil is not used for terrorist actions anywhere in the world and we hope others are committed to that also,” Basit said.
REVENGE
The recent attacks in Kabul and against the bases appeared to be the Taliban’s response to NATO’s plans for a major operation in the coming weeks in the Taliban southern stronghold of Kandahar — and an attempt at demonstrating that the insurgents are capable of pressuring the coalition in several parts of the country.
Sixteen insurgents and one US contractor were killed in the Bagram attack. NATO says a number of coalition soldiers were wounded in the Kandahar attack but gave no precise figures.
In the latest fighting, the Canadian Ministry of Defense announced that a 26-year-old Canadian soldier was killed on Monday by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.
Recent insurgent assaults also seemed to be a rebuff to Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s plans to offer peace to militants willing to give up the fight. Karzai plans to roll out a program of jobs, training and financial help to insurgents willing to give up during a national conference, or peace jirga, set for Wednesday next week.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
NO EXCUSES: Marcos said his administration was acting on voters’ demands, but an academic said the move was emotionally motivated after a poor midterm showing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday sought the resignation of all his Cabinet secretaries, in a move seen as an attempt to reset the political agenda and assert his authority over the second half of his single six-year term. The order came after the president’s allies failed to win a majority of Senate seats contested in the 12 polls on Monday last week, leaving Marcos facing a divided political and legislative landscape that could thwart his attempts to have an ally succeed him in 2028. “He’s talking to the people, trying to salvage whatever political capital he has left. I think it’s
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel