Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Washington Post
May 1, 2008
Pg. 12
Fighters Were Suspected of Links to Attack on Afghan President
By Rahim Faiez and Matthew Pennington, Associated Press
KABUL, April 30 -- Hundreds of Afghan intelligence agents on Wednesday raided the hideout of fighters with suspected links to a recent assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai, as the war against the Taliban intensified in the Afghan capital.
Terrified residents hid from booming guns and grenades that severely damaged the mud-brick house. Seven people were killed in the clash, officials said -- a woman and a child inside the house, three intelligence agents and two fighters.
One of the dead fighters had supplied weapons used in Sunday's attack on Karzai, intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh told reporters.
The assassination attempt, which came during a military parade in Kabul that was also attended by foreign ambassadors, highlighted the president's weak grip on the country. The U.S.-backed leader escaped injury, but a lawmaker and two other people were killed.
Saleh said Wednesday's raid in western Kabul was part of a wider operation in which six other suspects were detained elsewhere in the city. He also said that the border regions of neighboring Pakistan were the source of the threat.
Saleh alleged that fighters involved in the gun and mortar assault on Karzai were exchanging cellphone text messages with people in Pakistan's Bajur and North Waziristan regions and in the main northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.
Saleh did not directly implicate Pakistan's government, but his comments could dampen recently improved relations between the countries.
"We have no evidence whether . . . the operation has had any mercy or go-ahead from the government of Pakistan," Saleh said, but he added that there was "very, very strong evidence suggesting that Pakistan's soil once again has been used to inflict pain on our nation."
Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas called the allegation "baseless."
The Taliban, which was driven from power by U.S.-led forces in late 2001, is strongest in Afghanistan's volatile south and east. Kabul has often been hit by Taliban suicide bombers, but gun battles between security forces and fighters are still rare in the capital.
May 1, 2008
Pg. 12
Fighters Were Suspected of Links to Attack on Afghan President
By Rahim Faiez and Matthew Pennington, Associated Press
KABUL, April 30 -- Hundreds of Afghan intelligence agents on Wednesday raided the hideout of fighters with suspected links to a recent assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai, as the war against the Taliban intensified in the Afghan capital.
Terrified residents hid from booming guns and grenades that severely damaged the mud-brick house. Seven people were killed in the clash, officials said -- a woman and a child inside the house, three intelligence agents and two fighters.
One of the dead fighters had supplied weapons used in Sunday's attack on Karzai, intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh told reporters.
The assassination attempt, which came during a military parade in Kabul that was also attended by foreign ambassadors, highlighted the president's weak grip on the country. The U.S.-backed leader escaped injury, but a lawmaker and two other people were killed.
Saleh said Wednesday's raid in western Kabul was part of a wider operation in which six other suspects were detained elsewhere in the city. He also said that the border regions of neighboring Pakistan were the source of the threat.
Saleh alleged that fighters involved in the gun and mortar assault on Karzai were exchanging cellphone text messages with people in Pakistan's Bajur and North Waziristan regions and in the main northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.
Saleh did not directly implicate Pakistan's government, but his comments could dampen recently improved relations between the countries.
"We have no evidence whether . . . the operation has had any mercy or go-ahead from the government of Pakistan," Saleh said, but he added that there was "very, very strong evidence suggesting that Pakistan's soil once again has been used to inflict pain on our nation."
Pakistan army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas called the allegation "baseless."
The Taliban, which was driven from power by U.S.-led forces in late 2001, is strongest in Afghanistan's volatile south and east. Kabul has often been hit by Taliban suicide bombers, but gun battles between security forces and fighters are still rare in the capital.