Afghanistan: Pakistan officer involved in Parliament attack

Kabul, Jun 25: Afghanistan's intelligence service today said a Pakistani intelligence officer helped the Taliban carry out an attack on the parliament in Kabul earlier this week.

Afghan intelligence services spokesman Hassib Sediqqi said the officer in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence helped the Haqqani network carry out the attack outside parliament, which killed two people and wounded more than 30 as lawmakers were meeting inside.

He identified the officer as Bilal, without providing his full name. Sediqqi says the suicide car bomb used in Monday's attack was manufactured in Peshawar, Pakistan, just across the border.

He says Afghan authorities were made aware of the attack on June 10 and had deployed extra security. Pakistani officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Afghan-Pakistani relations have improved in recent months following years of tensions, during which each had accused the other of supporting militants operating along their porous border.

Afghan security forces have struggled to combat the Taliban following the conclusion of the US and NATO combat mission at the end of last year.

The Taliban launched their annual spring offensive in April with an assault on the provincial capital of the northern Kunduz province, nearly capturing the city as Kabul rushed in reinforcements.

Earlier this week, the Taliban captured two districts in Kunduz province in as many days. A remotely detonated bomb today killed a district governor in Badakhshan province, also in the north.

Abdul Jabhar Froutan was killed when the bomb went off in the district compound after a meeting, said Ahmad Naweid Froutan, the provincial governor's spokesman. Another person was wounded in the blast, he said.

AP