|
Three al-Qaida suspects killed in Afghanistan
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-17 21:53
Security forces have killed three al-Qaida suspects, a provincial governor said Thursday, while the country's defense minister warned that militants have smuggled explosives, weapons and cash into Afghanistan for a resurgent terror campaign.
|
People watch the wreckage of a car destroyed during a suicide attack two days ago as British soldiers patrol the streets on foot, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday Nov. 16, 2005. Al-Qaida network has increased its activities in Afghanistan, smuggling in explosives, high-tech weapons and millions of dollars in cash for a resurgent terror campaign, the country's defense minister warned Wednesday as a number of Arabs and other foreigners have entered the country to launch suicide attacks. [AP]
|
Two other suspected militants from Osama bin Laden's terror network have been arrested during joint Afghan-U.S. military operations in Kunar, a rugged mountainous eastern province on the border with Pakistan, said Gov. Assadullah Wafa.
He said the identity of the two, as well as the three killed during air strikes late Tuesday, was not immediately known.
Asked about the operation in Kunar, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara said, "Our offensive operations are ongoing and we are constantly going after the enemy in several areas across Afghanistan." He declined to elaborate.
In an exclusive interview with The Associated Press, Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said intelligence indicates that a number of Arab members of al-Qaida and other foreigners have entered Afghanistan to launch suicide attacks.
His comments came after an unprecedented spate of suicide assaults — the latest on Wednesday when a bomber attacked a U.S. military convoy in the southern city of Kandahar, killing three civilians.
Wardak said that besides explosives, the weapons smuggled into Afghanistan include remote-controlled timing devices and other computerized detonators for bombs. He declined to give a specific amount of smuggled money, but said it was in the millions of dollars.
"There has been ... more money and more weapons flowing into their hands in recent months," Wardak said. "We see similarities between the type of attacks here and in Iraq."
He said al-Qaida militants were increasingly teaming up with local rebels from the ousted Taliban movement to undermine President Hamid Karzai's U.S.-backed government because they have realized their influence is waning.
"There is no doubt that there is a connection between Taliban and al-Qaida and some other fundamentalists," he said. "In most cases, the suicide bombers are foreigners ... from the Middle East, from neighboring countries. ... It is a new trend."
|
