Berlin, June 11: German Defence Minister Peter Struck today said the suicide bomber who killed four German peacekeepers in Afghanistan over the weekend "belonged to the al-Qaeda terror organization". Struck added that the attacker was "financially and logistically" connected to fundamentalist warlord and former Taliban Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who has declared his opposition to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
He said that other former Taliban were involved in the planning of the attack, in which the suicide bomber in a taxi detonated a massive explosion alongside a bus carrying the soldiers Saturday. Twenty-nine people were also injured. "It is these three groups who are trying to chase the international security assistance force out of Afghanistan," he said. Citing western intelligence sources, Bild newspaper reported today that the suicide bomber was an Arab and a former Taliban fighter with connections to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. Bureau Report