KABUL: Afghan security forces captured intelligence data pointing at the Haqqani network during a raid in Kabul which killed five insurgents and wounded one on Thursday. The authorities said they had thwarted a massive attack.
Soldiers from Afghanistan's spy agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), launched the raid just after midnight, entering a single-story house compound on the fringes of Kabul which the insurgents were using as a base.
The NDS said target maps and telephone numbers recovered from the compound had numbers for the Haqqani network.
Haqqani network, allied with the Taliban and largely based in northwest Pakistan's border lands, have been blamed by Nato-led forces in Afghanistan for several high profile attacks in recent months.
"They [insurgents] planned mass attacks in different parts of Kabul disguised in burqas," the NDS said in a statement.
Police said two insurgents escaped during a gun battle that raged for five hours around the isolated compound, where the insurgents had been amassing weapons in a newly built brick house.
The militants had three vehicles loaded with explosives and suicide-bomb vests, as well as large stores of rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, and planned to occupy a high-rise building to attack the city's business heart.
The Taliban issued a statement denying that Thursday's operation had targeted their fighters.
"Progress"
The United States is pressing Pakistan to step up its efforts to root out militants, in particular the Haqqanis.
Pakistan has also long complained that the United States has overlooked its contribution to the fight against militants.
Nato's top commander in Afghanistan, US General John Allen, met Pakistani counterparts in Islamabad on Thursday to discuss cross border security in the wake of hundreds of rocket attacks in eastern Afghanistan which Afghan officials have blamed on the Pakistan army.
Pakistan has denied the accusation.
"We are making significant progress toward building a partnership that is enduring, strategic, carefully defined, and that enhances the security and prosperity of the region," Allen said in a statement after his talks.
The Nato-led force in Afghanistan has acknowledged an 11 percent spike in attacks over the past three months since the start of the summer fighting period, although overall the number of foreign soldiers killed is down on last year.
Eighty-five were killed in June and July against 119 over the same period last year.
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The Afghans and its Nato allies point finger at Pakistan for not doing enough to fight the Haqqani fighers, who have their safe haven n North Waziristan on the Afghan border. Pakistan blamed Afghanistan for letting the Tekrek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) stay in Afghanistan’s eastern provinces bordering Pakistan after having been driven out of Swat, and Bajaur and Mohmand agencies since 2008. It just shows the two countries can't cooperate.
Good job done by Afghan forces and they continue like this, Taleban has a tough task ahead of 2014.
Don't worry. I shall bank roll the Afghan intelligence agency for a year and they will start pointing towards the NATO base in Kabul for causing these attachs. They work on dollars, not facts.
Kudos to the Afghan National Security Forces. Keep it up Afghan Lions, the enemy is about to bite the dust with all their coffee sipping sympathizers sitting far far away in their luxurious homes hoping for a stone-age Afghanistan being ruled by the very militants whom they call Indian and CIA agents if they shatter their GHQ and challenge the writ of law on their land.
@wajib If you think that is a world record, then you know nothing about world records.
As Zalmai pointed out get used to Afghan forces once again being able to be organised and book success against foreign supported thugs.
the saying don't wish for your neighbour what you don't wish for yourself. Do you guys wish TTP take over pakistan?
well we pakistanis should realise this fact now and should stop this molvi general zia ul haq philosophy of insurgency .. if pakistan army cant eliminate TTP and all these millitants alone then Pakistan army should ask for UN special forces deployment as we have seen since 10 years pak army hasnt finish these organisation and militants so there shouldnt be a problem in asking for UN peace force. despite all army operations in the area except swat the millitants are still there its just on media that they have gone
@Cautious, why would Pakistan say Haqqani is located in Pakistan when Haqqani himself has said that he is in Afghanistan?
"Afghan security forces captured intelligence data..."
That's two jokes in six words - must be a world record.
@Ninja. Pakistan usually acknowledges that the Haqqani are located/controlled from Pakistan -- the consistent position that Pakistan maintains is that the Haqqani are not a threat to Pakistan and you don't have the resources or desire to eliminate them.
@Hedgefunder: Some time I fee that you are on duty to keep attacking on Pakistan and Pak army.
@Hedgefunder, Now you're changing the topic. Haqqani does not control NW. There are many other groups in NW like Hafiz Gul Bahadurs. If Haqqani Network has such a huge presence in NW then why do drone strikes rarely kill Haqqani militants?
Lol @ "Afghan forces." Never heard of that term, is there such a thing as 'Afghan forces'?
Last thing left was to publish these numbers over internet and print media so haters/lovers can spam them. I doubt if its a spy agency, sounds more like a PR agency.
@Ninja: So which other rag tag merry men are controling NW? Which Assets are those ? Does Pak Army have any part of that region under its control ? After all its apart of your Sovereign Territory still, I assume !
You don't need data for this as the whole world knows of this, except Pakistan ! After all these are their Assets and Guests !