Afghan spy agency claims breakthrough in Kabul guest house attack

Kabul, June 3: Afghanistan’s tiol Directorate of Security (NDS) on Wednesday said it has arrested two Haqqani Network militants who planned in Pakistan the attack on the Park Palace Guest House here on May 13 that claimed 14 lives, including those of four Indians. The Haqqani Network members were arrested in a special NDS operation in Sang-e-wishta area of Kabul, TOLONews quoted the statement.

The two militants confessed during prelimiry investigations that the attack on Park Palace hotel was planned by the Haqqani Network in Peshawar, capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, in Pakistan and that they used fake US Agency for Intertiol Development (USAID) identity documents to carry out the attack, the statement said.

The suspects were also allegedly involved in an attack on the interior ministry in Logar province. Fourteen people died in the May 13 attack, including aid workers. The attack occurred at about 8.30 p.m. when gunmen entered the hotel and triggered a siege that lasted for about seven hours. Among the dead were four Afghans, one Afghan-British citizen, four Indians, two Pakistanis, an Italian, a Kazakhstani and an American. (IANS)