Afghan Forces: We Foiled Massive Kabul Attack

Afghan security forces arrested five militants with 11 tons of explosives they planned to use to carry out a massive attack in Kabul, a security official said today. Three of the five men were members of the Pakistani Taliban, while the other two belonged to the Afghan Taliban, said an Afghan security official. He said their orders came from militant leaders with ties to Pakistani intelligence.

The reports of new planned attacks in the Afghan capital came a week after militants said to be part of the Pakistan-based Haqqani network launched brazen coordinated assaults in the heart of Kabul and in other cities. The captured explosives were in 400 bags and hidden under potatoes loaded in a truck with Pakistani license plates, said the security official. He said authorities also had foiled a Haqqani assassination attempt against Afghan Vice President Mohammed Karim Khalili. (More Pakistan stories.)