UN workers in Kabul attacked hour before security ready: official

Oct 31, 2009, 15:04 GMT

Kabul - The Afghan authorities had advanced information about this week's Taliban attack against UN workers in Kabul and moved to avert it, but the insurgents struck one hour before the extra security measures were in place, an intelligence chief admitted on Saturday.

Three Taliban fighters, wearing suicide vests and carrying automatic rifles attacked a UN guesthouse in downtown Kabul before 6am on Wednesday, killing five international UN staff, two security

guards and a civilian. The attackers were also killed in the incident.

'We knew that they would carry out an attack in Kabul,' Amrullah Saleh, head of National Directorate of Security, or Afghan intelligence told reporters in Kabul.

Based on intelligence information, the police increased its personnel on the streets and beefed up security checkpoints around the Kabul city one week before the attack between 7am to 3pm, Saleh said.

'But they (attackers) used the security vacuum, because all our measures were in place after 7am,' he admitted.

He said his organisation arrested six men, allegedly involved in planning the attack, including Qari Aminullah, an Imam in Kabul city, who housed the three attackers in his residence. Aminullah was arrested upon his arrival in Saudi Arabia, he said.

Saleh said that Afghan forces foiled some parts of the militants' plans in Kabul city, but did not elaborate. He said the three attackers were Pakistani nationals and came from an area close to Afghan and Pakistani shared border.

He also said that the attack was orchestrated by members of Haqani, an associate group of Taliban movement which has close ties with al Qaeda network.

The attack raised concerns among the international community in Kabul and forced the United Nations to reassess the security for its personnel in the war-torn country.

On Friday UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that as part of precautionary measures non-essential UN staff working in Afghanistan will be relocated to safer areas and security will be beefed up to protect those working to assist Kabul government.

Taliban militants took responsibility for the attack and claimed that the attacked UN staff were helping Afghan government convene the presidential runoff election between President Hamid Karzai and his former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.