US troops arrest 'Pakistani female suicide bomber' in Afghanistan

Kabul, July 19 : A Pakistani female suicide bomber was apprehended by US troops while she was allegedly fixing explosives on her body to attack a provincial governor in central Afghanistan. Her 13-year-old son was also arrested along with her.

According to the US troops, while in custody the unidentified woman pounced on a US soldier triggering a gun shot which injured her.

A local police officer said that the police argued with the Americans over giving up her custody, but later added said there was no argument and that the woman lunged at one of the US soldiers, sparking the gunshot.

US military officials had no immediate comment.

The deputy police chief of Ghazni, Abdul Ghani, told reporters that the woman had allegedly confessed she was from Multan, Pakistan, and had come to the city to carry out a suicide attack. She claimed to have entered the country with three associates who had not been arrested, Ghani said. The police chief did not confirm whether the boy was also meant to be involved in the bombing.

The woman-child duo was arrested late on Thursday as they were fixing explosives to themselves behind the Governor's residence in Ghazni, the Daily Times quoted provincial government spokesman Ismail Jahangir as telling a foreign news agency.

Jahangir said the woman and the child could not speak either of Afghanistan's main languages, Dari and Pashtu, but spoke Urdu and Arabic. The pair was presented before the media several hours after their arrest, added the paper.

ANI