ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan has asked Pakistan to handover three people, who, it claims, are behind the deadly bomb attack in Kandahar in January that had killed the UAE ambassador and five other diplomats, the Afghan spy chief said in Kabul on Thursday.
The attack in the heavily-guarded governor guest house had killed 12 people and injured several others including Kandahar governor Humayun Azizi. The Taliban had denied involvement and had described the attack as the result of internal rift in the Kandahar administration.
Ambassador Juma Mohammed Abdullah al-Kaabi and the diplomats were on a mission to carry out humanitarian, educational and development projects in Kandahar, the Taliban birthplace.
Kandahar police chief Gen Abdul Raziq had blamed the Haqqani Network while the Afghan National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar had claimed that the attack was planned ‘outside’. General Raziq had left the guest house just minutes before the bomb ripped through the guest house.
Dubai Police Deputy Chief Lt Gen Dahi Khalfan Tamim had, however, disputed the claims by the Afghan security officials and said the Afghan officials were responsible.
“The Afghan security official are directly responsible for the incident to the UAE ambassador and mission members, who died or were injured, because the explosives were planted inside the guesthouse where people can enter only through security clearance,” General Tamim said on his official Twitter days after the attack.
The Afghan intelligence chief Masoom Stanikzai told a news conference in Kabul on Thursday that the guest house cook Syed Mehboob Agha had planted the explosives. He said the cook had traveled to the Pakistani border town of Chaman and had met three people there, claiming that $30,000 and a house in Pakistan had been offered to the cook.
Sanikzai declined to reveal nationality of the suspects but “we have formally asked Pakistan to handover the three men to the Afghan government”. The NDS posted video of Stanikzai’s presser on its official Facebook page.
“We have shared all evidence with Pakistan and are hopeful about the progress,” the NDS chief said.
He said the Afghan and foreign investigators have reached the conclusion that Taliban had carried out the attack. He said the cook, who has been arrested, has admitted his action.
He said the cook had brought the explosives with the help of one of his assistants and had attached it to a sofa.
There had been hectic activities after the Kandahar bombing and President Ashraf Ghani had also visited the UAE along with National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar and Stanikzai to discuss the investigation into the blast.
Just days after the attack, the Taliban had also sent a group of their Qatar-based political representatives to Abu Dhabi to personally deny involvement in the attack and to assure they would help the investigation.
The UAE national security adviser had visited Islamabad and Kabul as part of discussion to find out the culprits.
There was no statement from the investigators of other countries including the US,UK and UAE, who were also part of the investigations.