Kabul: Afghan police have arrested seven
armed insurgents who disguised themselves as women by wearing
burqas, officials said on Monday.
Interior ministry spokesman Siddiq Siddiqi said to a news agency
that the men, who carried light weapons with at least one in a
suicide vest, were captured in Jalalabad, the capital of the
eastern province of Nangarhar.
He said the men wore the all-enveloping veil as part
of their disguise and were planning attacks on government
targets, but gave no further details.
As the traditional summer fighting season ramps up in
Afghanistan, the Taliban have increasingly used multiple
suicide bombers armed with machineguns in coordinated attacks
against targets.
On Wednesday, nine militants, said to be armed with
heavy weapons and suicide vests, carried out a brazen attack
on a landmark hotel in Kabul that left 12 people including a
Spanish pilot dead.
The rebels breached high security at the
Intercontinental Hotel and were killed about five hours later
after a NATO helicopter gunship and New Zealand commandos
stepped in to help their Afghan counterparts.
Afghanistan is plagued by an increasingly deadly
insurgency waged by remnants of the Taliban trying to regain
power since they were toppled in a US-led invasion in late
2001.
PTI
First Published: Monday, July 04, 2011, 16:15