Pakistan police arrest 6 Afghans
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
PAKISTANI police arrested six Afghans and recovered 450kg of explosives and more than a dozen detonators during a raid in the southwest city of Quetta, security officials said yesterday.
"They had a car ready, filled with explosives to strike in the city," Mohammad Akbar Arain, the senior-most police official in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.
"I can't give you exact details but I can tell you that their handler is not here but settled across the border," he said, referring to Afghanistan.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, both US allies in a global war on terrorism, are at a low after Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused Pakistani intelligence of being involved in a suicide car bomb attack that killed 58 people outside the Indian embassy in Kabul earlier this month.
The Afghan government has said in the past that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and other commanders have been directing the insurgency in Afghanistan from Quetta.
Both Pakistan and the Taliban have denied this, and say Omar is with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
Separately, security forces detained a man suspected of being a senior Taliban commander from a house on the outskirts of Quetta a few days ago.
Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity said the man was under interrogation and his identity had still to be confirmed. "We conducted a raid three days ago based on very credible information that some important Taliban figures were hiding with an Afghan family there."Reuters
"They had a car ready, filled with explosives to strike in the city," Mohammad Akbar Arain, the senior-most police official in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province.
"I can't give you exact details but I can tell you that their handler is not here but settled across the border," he said, referring to Afghanistan.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan, both US allies in a global war on terrorism, are at a low after Afghan President Hamid Karzai accused Pakistani intelligence of being involved in a suicide car bomb attack that killed 58 people outside the Indian embassy in Kabul earlier this month.
The Afghan government has said in the past that Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and other commanders have been directing the insurgency in Afghanistan from Quetta.
Both Pakistan and the Taliban have denied this, and say Omar is with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
Separately, security forces detained a man suspected of being a senior Taliban commander from a house on the outskirts of Quetta a few days ago.
Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity said the man was under interrogation and his identity had still to be confirmed. "We conducted a raid three days ago based on very credible information that some important Taliban figures were hiding with an Afghan family there."Reuters
Business Besides Oil
