Afghanistan blames LT for Kabul suicide attacks

Associated Press

KABUL: An Afghan intelligence official on Tuesday blamed the banned Lashkar-e-Tayyaba for last week's car bomb and suicide attacks that killed 16 people in Kabul.




The same organisation has been blamed by India for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks that killed 166 people. Friday's assaults in the Afghan capital targeted residential hotels popular with foreigners, where six Indians were killed.




The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility within hours of the attacks, but the assertion that the LT were involved could jeopardize tentative peace talks between Pakistan and India that resumed only last week.




Saeed Ansari, a spokesman for Afghanistan's intelligence service claimed that his agency had "evidence that Pakistanis, specifically the banned group are involved in the attacks". He alleged that one of the attackers was heard speaking Urdu.




Ansari said the Taliban "had no knowledge" of the Kabul attacks up to five hours after they began. However, an Afghan Taliban spokesman called in an AP reporter two and a half hours after the attack to claim responsibility.