Kabul - Afghanistan's government Tuesday again blamed
foreign intelligence agents for the suicide bombing that killed 40
near the Indian embassy as a soldier died in another attack.
'We believe that there is a particular intelligence agency behind
this attack,' presidential spokesman Homayun Hamidzada said, echoing
a statement by the interior ministry immediately after Monday's
blast.
Neither mentioned which intelligence service was involved, but the
remarks were taken by many as referring to Pakistan's Inter-Services
Intelligence (ISI), which Kabul believes has been aiding Taliban and
al-Qaeda insurgents launching cross-border attacks into Afghanistan.
Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday denied
the ISI was involved in the blast, which claimed the lives of four
Indians.
'Why should Pakistan destabilize Afghanistan, as it is in our
interest to have a stable Afghanistan?' Gilani said at a Muslim
summit in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
Meanwhile, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF), said Tuesday that one of its soldiers was killed and four
wounded when an explosive device went off near their patrol in the
eastern province of Kunar.
In a separate incident in the same province, Taliban insurgents
aiming at foreign troops injured five children in a rocket attack in
Narai district.
Muhammad Jalal Jalal, the police chief of Kunar, said the missiles
missed their target and hit a playground, causing injuries to the
children that were not life-threatening.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahi said the attack resulted in
heavy casualties for NATO-led troops.
Meanwhile, local officials in eastern Nangarhar province said at
least eight insurgents were killed and several wounded during
operations in Khogyani and Sherzad districts.
Ahmad Zia, spokesman for the Nangarhar governor, said the
operation aimed at eliminating militants in an area where foreign
fighters were assisting the Taliban.
In another development, US-led coalition forces killed one
militant and detained two others in an anti-Taliban operation in
Wardak province, west of Kabul.
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