Afghan intelligence thwarts complex assault plot in Kabul; Pakistani suspect, 4 others arrested

August 1 Xinhua.jpg

NDS personnel pose with weapons and explosives confiscated during the Aug.1, 2012 raid in Kabul. A similar raid was conducted on Aug.11, 2012 in the Shur Bazaar area of Kabul. Image: Xinhua.

Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) personnel supported by Coalition forces thwarted a major terrorist plot in Kabul City late on Saturday night, preventing coordinated suicide-bomb attacks on the Afghan Parliament and the Afghan Presidential palace and an assassination attempt against Afghan second Vice President Mohammad Karim Khalili. The raid is the second major operation conducted by NDS this month that has broken up terror cells linked to the Pakistan-based Haqqani Network.

NDS spokesman Lutfullah Mashal stated during a press conference that four Afghan suspects and a Pakistani national were arrested when the raiding force stormed a compound in the Shur Bazaar area of Kabul City around 1 a.m. local time on Saturday. Security forces seized an arsenal that consisted of suicide vests, AK-47 assault rifles, rocket launchers, hand grenades, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Also confiscated in the raid were a Pakistani “Identity card,” along with Pakistani currency and a mobile phone, according to Khaama Press.

NDS personnel in the Bagrami district of Kabul arrested three other suspected insurgents, but it was unclear if they were part of the same plot.

Saturday’s raid marks the second instance since April in which NDS personnel have disrupted a Pakistani-linked terror plot in Kabul aimed at assassinating Mohammad Karim Khalili, a powerful Hazara figurehead who represents Afghanistan’s minority Hazara population, many of whom are Shia Muslims. On April 15, the NDS broke up a plot and arrested three suspects reportedly trained and ordered by senior Haqqani Network commander Badruddin Haqqani to assassinate Khalili in a complex suicide assault.

Saturday’s raid also follows the successful NDS raid on Aug. 1 that killed five members of the Pakistan-linked Haqqani Network during a ferocious gunfight against the suspect’s safe house located in the Pul-i-Charkhi area of Kabul [see LWJ, Afghan intel kills 5 members of Haqqani Network suicide cell in Kabul]. The operation broke up a plot by the Haqqani cell to take over a high rise building in the Shar-i-Naw area of Kabul. NDS officials also recovered “target maps and telephone numbers” from the compound that had “numbers for the Haqqani Network based outside Afghanistan,” Reuters reported.

For previous coverage of NDS operations, see the following Long War Journal and Threat Matrix reports:

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8 Comments

  • Eddie D. says:

    Good Stop!

  • Nic says:

    “Saturday’s raid marks the second instance since April in which NDS personnel have disrupted a Pakistani-linked terror plot.” Anyone want to bet when the ISI will try again?

  • G says:

    Is there a reason we do not target the Haqqanis across the border in NW?

  • Gerry301 says:

    NDS supported by coalition personnel does not give me confidence the NDS supported by Afgans can do the job.

  • Charles says:

    Anyone want to bet when the ISI will try again?
    More likely the ISI is giving up the Haqqanis. Why? The retreat of the USA from Afghanistan changes the calculus for all players. The Haqqanis are more competent than the Kabul governors. They have their own source of money. Therefor they are are rival to the ISI for influence in Afghanistan; Therefor they need to be taken down a peg–or in the very least — the frail afghan government needs to be protected from being taken down further.

  • Mint says:

    Reason we do not target Haqqanis because their masters (ISI, PAK MIL)will never let us.

  • ArneFufkin says:

    Gerry, the NDS ARE Afghans so I don’t understand your point. Give them credit for a job well done.

  • Matt Adamchek says:

    Yeah great save for the Afghani Parliament. Now let’s see them thwart more “blue on green” attacks. They have yet to step up with that…

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