Afghan intelligence claims Pakistan implicated in Kabul attacks

Kabul: Afghanistan's intelligence agency claimed on Wednesday that Pakistan was involved in last week's attacks on Kabul that killed almost 50 people and wounded hundreds. Hassib Sediqi, the spokesman for the National Directorate of Security, said that Afghan authorities have confirmed "Pakistani military interference" in the attacks last Friday.

"Special circles of the Pakistani military were behind all those attacks," Sediqi said. He said that the Pakistanis were working through the Haqqani network, one of the most vicious militant groups in Afghanistan.

There was no immediate reaction from Islamabad, which has in the past denied such accusations from Kabul. Pakistan wields considerable influence over the Taliban, which have waged a 14-year war against Kabul.

Three attacks last week shocked Kabul in their scope and brutality. A truck bomb exploded early Friday morning, flattening a city block and killing 15 people and wounding 240 as they slept, authorities said.

Hours later, a suicide bomber killed at least 20 cadets outside a police academy, while another 10 people died in an attack on a military camp used by U.S. Special Forces. On Monday, an attack near Kabul's airport killed five people. The Taliban claimed responsibility for most of the attacks.

"Suicide bombers are receiving their training in Pakistan, there are factories in Pakistan that are making bombs and explosives, which are used to kill and wound civilians in Afghanistan," Sediqi said.

He claimed that it has been proved that the Taliban are not led by Afghans but are getting their orders form the Pakistani military officers. Earlier on Wednesday, Afghan authorities recovered the corpses of four men kidnapped in the country's east last week, officials said, while at least eight others have been newly abducted.

The four corpses, found in Nawur district near the Pakistani border, all had been shot dead, said Asadullah Ensafi, the deputy chief police of Ghazni province. He said three of the men were Hazara, while the fourth was a Sunni Pashtun.

The Hazara are a largely Shiite ethnic minority in predominantly Sunni Afghanistan. The group has been targeted by the Taliban and other Sunni extremists in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan.

Ensafi said insurgents kidnapped another at least eight Hazaras on Tuesday. In February, 30 Hazara men were abducted in Zabul province, south of Ghazni. Last month, 11 Hazaras were kidnapped in northern Baghlan province, which also has been plagued by militants since the Taliban stepped up their war against Kabul in April.

Meanwhile, fighting in Baghlan between Afghan forces and the Taliban has killed two police officers, said Jaweed Basharat, the provincial police spokesman. He said the fighting in the Dahana-I-Ghori district began on Tuesday. The Taliban issued a statement, claiming a much higher police casualties figure. The insurgents regularly exaggerate their gains.